Recent updates to the Advertiser-friendly content guidelines

Question

Hi Creators! My name is Conor and I work on YouTube’s Ads Policy team. 
We know you’ve been asking for more clarity and transparency around YouTube’s Advertiser-friendly guidelines, so we’re creating this post to share short updates that highlight clarifications made to Help Center articles (namely the Advertiser-friendly content guidelines). If you “Subscribe” to this post, you’ll receive email notifications in your inbox whenever we publish an update to any of our ad-friendly guidelines resources. All of these updates are also logged on Upcoming and recent ad guideline updates. With us so far? Good. 😉
When our teams identify guidelines that need more clarification (commonly based on your feedback!), we update Help Center articles to include additional details and examples, or we restructure the information to be more clear. The goal is to make our existing guidelines much more transparent and understandable for creators who want to monetize their content on YouTube. Within this forum, you'll see the most recent update pinned below this box as the "recommended answer". 
As we continue to build out these resources based on your questions and input, make sure you’re using Self-Certification to rate your content – we’re constantly examining Self-Certification accuracy to determine where Creators are struggling to understand elements of our guidelines, and make updates to the guidelines themselves for added clarity.

Louis Manna · Accepted Answer

[November 2022] Updates to the Advertiser-friendly content guidelines 
As we've mentioned here before, we know that creators want greater clarity and transparency around our Advertiser Friendly Guidelines (AFGs) and have been working to update these policies based on the feedback we’ve heard!
We are sharing the latest changes, which adds some clarity around what content is eligible for monetization on YouTube, as well as some updates we've made to the guidelines. 
See here for the full set of content guidelines, and below for some more info on what’s changing:
Adult content  
Thumbnails, titles, and videos containing adult links, obscene language, adult material, and sexually gratifying acts may not receive ad revenue.
Policy enforcement around classical arts depicting sexual activities, sensual dancing, and sexual education will remain unchanged and may receive ad revenue.
Violence 
Content showing dead bodies (without context), game violence directed at a real, named person or acts that’s created to intentionally shock and disgust, and videos showing an implied moment of death, will not receive ad revenue.
Standard game play where gory injuries are present AFTER the first 8 seconds, non-graphic tragedies and their aftermath, or police seizures as a part of law enforcement can receive ad revenue.
Harmful or dangerous acts 
Dangerous acts or stunts where minors are participants or victims may not receive ad revenue. 
Inappropriate language
All varieties of profanity are now treated equally meaning they are not differentiated based on levels of severity. Also, we are not treating words such as “hell,” and “damn,” as profanity anymore. 
Content where profanity is used AFTER the first 8 seconds may receive ad revenue. However, if profanity is used in the first 8 seconds of the video, then it will not monetize.
Recreational drugs and drug-related content
Drug use and consumption in gaming content may not receive ad revenue. 
Drug dealings or mentions of drugs in gaming content may receive ad revenue.
We’re also introducing new guidelines under the Enabling dishonest behavior guideline. The following content will now be in scope of “This content will earn no ad revenue”: 
Pretending to be a retail store employee without the property owner’s permission or violating their code of conduct 
Using or encouraging the usage of hacking software in competitive e-sports  
The Gaming and monetization article has also been updated in parallel to reflect these policy updates.

Leah (Ads Policy) · Accepted Answer

[March 2023] Updated “Inappropriate language” Ad-Friendly Guidelines 
Our update last November aimed to improve the clarity and enforcement of our Advertiser-friendly content guidelines and make it easier for Creators to monetize brand safe content. However, we heard concerns from Creators that the new  profanity policy actually resulted in a stricter approach than we intended. 
Effective March 7, we are making the following changes: 
Usage of moderate profanity at any time in the video is now eligible for green icons. 
Usage of stronger profanity, like the f-word in the first 7 seconds or repeatedly throughout the majority of the video can now receive limited ads (under the November update, this would have received no ad revenue). See specific examples of moderate and stronger profanity in our Help Center article.
Video content using profanity, moderate or strong, after the first 7 seconds will now be eligible for green icons, unless used repetitively throughout the majority of the video (under the November update, this would have received no ad revenue). 
We’ve also clarified our guidance on how profanity in music is treated; moderate or strong profanity used in background music, backing tracks, intro/outro music can now earn full ad revenue (previously this would have received no ad revenue).
Use of any profanity (moderate or stronger profanity) in titles and thumbnails will still be demonetized and cannot run ads, as was the case before the update in November, 
What’s next - The videos that received a yellow icon as a result of the November update will be re-reviewed by March 10th and, if they get a green icon, the new monetization status will be reflected in Studio. Note that some videos may remain demonetized if they still violate other Advertiser-friendly content guidelines. You can refer to your rating status page in Studio to check by which guideline your video may be impacted.
We’re always working to improve the clarity of our ad-friendly guidelines and to make it easier for Creators to monetize brand safe content, so please continue to share your feedback!

Rob - TeamYouTube · Accepted Answer

Hi creators,
We’ve updated our ad-friendly guidelines for Adult content in two areas that will allow creators more opportunities to earn ad revenue: 
Breastfeeding: Breastfeeding content where a child is present, even with visible nudity, can now earn ad revenue. Previously, such content was only monetizable if there was no visible nudity. Also, breastfeeding thumbnails with focus on breasts without visible nudity can now earn ad revenue.  
Sensual dancing:  Non-sexually graphic dancing involving rhythmic body movements, such as twerking or grinding, can now earn ad revenue. Additionally, dancing featuring fleeting minimal clothing can also now earn ad revenue. Previously this type of content was not considered monetizable.
For more info on this update, watch our Creator Insider Video. To watch the video with subtitles in your preferred language, turn on closed captions and adjust the language in your settings. Find instructions here.