Pranks have been a popular sub-genre of film for as long as movies have been around. One generation had Candid Camera another had Punk’d.
Another generation had America’s Funniest Home Videos while another had Jackass. Needless to say prank videos have been around a long time and it is only natural and organic for the sub-genre to find its way to the YouTube platform. Well, the honeymoon is over. YouTube has banned prank content that can be excessively dangerous to the participants. A particular concern is harm to children.
When YouTube chose to remove pranks, it did not mean to explicitly ban all pranks (it has not). The ice bath challenge and other popular challenges are safe. Dangerous challenges such as fire, Tide Pod, Bird Box, and random acts of violence against strangers are out. So if you are making a living doing prank challenges for hire on micro gig sites or just uploading them by yourself to YouTube or other video sharing services, the gig is up.
As part of this move to police its platform, YouTube acknowledges that it has a responsibility to protect children and the public at large. Allowing the promotion of this content could at best be considered laissez-faire to at worst ambivalence and a lack of concern. This would be damaging to Alphabet’s corporate image and to the YouTube brand. Advertisers are also feeling the pinch as companies have pushed back on showing their ads in places that could leave their target customers fuming. The idea of a customer associated their brand with this content could be disastrous. Parents would be incensed if their son or daughter consumed the offensive content or got hurt or hurt someone else attempting a prank.
This is a business decision and a personal one for the video sharing service with millions of users. So if you are into challenges that Bill Gates, Jimmy Kimmel would approve of you are okay. If they are ones that Rob Gronkowski is warning you are not cool or that Netflix is strongly urging you to not do and lamenting how ridiculous it is not warn people then you should avoid it. And if not, YouTube will pull the plug and leave you with a blank screen.
