Google's YouTube video-sharing site has announced that it will block ads appearing on any video channels that have less than 10,000 views.
The company says this is designed to punish those who break the rules with regard to content, the Wall Street Journal reported.
No mention was made about the current issue that Google faces over big-name advertisers pulling ads from YouTube and the Google Display Network after they were reported to be appearing on videos that contained racist, extremist, anti-Semitic and anti-feminist content.
The notice from YouTube claimed this policy had been in the making since November 2016.
{loadposition sam08}The pulling of ads from YouTube began after The Times of London reported that ads for the British government and major brands were appearing next to objectionable content.
In the US companies such as Verizon, AT&T, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Wal-Mart, Dish Network, Starbucks and General Motors all discontinued advertising after the news broke.
In Australia, the federal government joined Vodafone Australia, Nestle, Bunnings, Foxtel, Holden, Kia and Caltex in a boycott of Google ads.
The YouTube notice said the move to blocks ads on video channels that had less than 10,000 views would enable it to screen accounts much better in order to see if they deserved advertising.
"This new threshold gives us enough information to determine the validity of a channel," YouTube said in a blog post. "It also allows us to confirm if a channel is following our community guidelines and advertiser policies.”
It added that the new limit would "help ensure revenue only flows to creators who are playing by the rules".
The move was designed to get rid of so-called "impersonators" who duplicated others' videos and reposted them, the blog post said.
There was no indication given as to how many YouTube accounts would be affected by the new policy. According to the WSJ, the financial hit taken by video creators would be negligible as advertisers pay between US$7 and US$12 for 1000 views and even this amount is divided between the creator and YouTube.