REFORM OUR COMMUNITY: Demand a cleaner, fairer and more accountable YouTube
The Issue
YouTube was built around the idea of “Broadcast Yourself”, giving ordinary people the ability to create, publish and build communities without needing a traditional broadcaster. Today, however, many creators and viewers are increasingly concerned that the platform's policies and systems are moving further away from the community that built it.
This petition calls on YouTube and its leadership, including CEO Neal Mohan, to deliver meaningful reform and build a cleaner YouTube that puts transparency, accountability and fair treatment back at the centre of the platform.
Our concerns cover several areas of YouTube's current operation. Changes to public view counting need clearer explanations so that creators and viewers can understand what a “view” actually represents. Automated moderation and monetization systems need stronger human oversight, particularly when an automated decision can seriously affect a creator's channel or income.
There have also been cases that creators and viewers have cited as examples of automated systems producing questionable or apparently false results. One example raised publicly by musician and creator Davie504 involved a copyright claim over a video featuring a deliberately muted performance of “The Sound of Silence.” Whether individual claims are ultimately valid or mistaken, cases like this demonstrate why creators need accessible human review and clear explanations when automated copyright or moderation systems make decisions.
Copyright protection is important, but legitimate commentary, criticism, research and transformative creativity should not be placed at the mercy of opaque or erroneous claims. YouTube should strengthen its dispute systems and provide stronger safeguards against demonstrably abusive or mistaken enforcement.
We also call for greater transparency around monetization requirements and policies, meaningful audience feedback, advertising practices and recommendation systems. Viewers should have greater control over their Home page and should not have to accept an increasingly commercial or repetitive experience without meaningful choices.
Another major concern is the growth of AI Slop, particularly mass-produced and repetitive AI-generated material appearing across YouTube and Shorts. We are not calling for responsible use of artificial intelligence to be banned. We are calling for better tools that allow viewers to reduce unwanted mass-produced AI content and for YouTube to distinguish genuine creative work from content produced primarily at scale for attention or revenue.
We also want YouTube to improve the identification of television, film and talk-show clips appearing in Shorts. When YouTube can reliably identify the source, viewers should be given useful information about the original programme, film, episode or broadcast instead of having to search through comments to discover where a clip came from.
Finally, we call for more accurate Made for Kids classification and stronger appeals. Protecting children is important, but animation, documentaries, news, mature discussions and ordinary real-world videos should not be incorrectly treated as children's content simply because of superficial characteristics. Creators need meaningful ways to challenge incorrect classifications and understand why YouTube has made a particular decision.
These concerns are connected by one fundamental demand: YouTube must listen to its community.
We are asking YouTube to make its systems more transparent, its enforcement more accountable, its copyright processes fairer, its monetization policies clearer, its advertising less intrusive, its recommendations more controllable and its platform cleaner from mass-produced low-value content.
We support peaceful and lawful advocacy for these reforms. This campaign is about accountability, not harassment or violence. We want YouTube to succeed, but we believe a successful YouTube must also be a YouTube where creators and viewers have a meaningful voice.
If YouTube's leadership refuses to accept meaningful accountability and reform, this petition also supports the campaign's demand that Neal Mohan resign as CEO of YouTube.
We are asking YouTube to remember what made the platform matter in the first place: people.
Creators. Viewers. Communities.
It is time for YouTube to hear them.
Sign the petition and support REFORM OUR COMMUNITY for a cleaner, fairer and more accountable YouTube.
18
The Issue
YouTube was built around the idea of “Broadcast Yourself”, giving ordinary people the ability to create, publish and build communities without needing a traditional broadcaster. Today, however, many creators and viewers are increasingly concerned that the platform's policies and systems are moving further away from the community that built it.
This petition calls on YouTube and its leadership, including CEO Neal Mohan, to deliver meaningful reform and build a cleaner YouTube that puts transparency, accountability and fair treatment back at the centre of the platform.
Our concerns cover several areas of YouTube's current operation. Changes to public view counting need clearer explanations so that creators and viewers can understand what a “view” actually represents. Automated moderation and monetization systems need stronger human oversight, particularly when an automated decision can seriously affect a creator's channel or income.
There have also been cases that creators and viewers have cited as examples of automated systems producing questionable or apparently false results. One example raised publicly by musician and creator Davie504 involved a copyright claim over a video featuring a deliberately muted performance of “The Sound of Silence.” Whether individual claims are ultimately valid or mistaken, cases like this demonstrate why creators need accessible human review and clear explanations when automated copyright or moderation systems make decisions.
Copyright protection is important, but legitimate commentary, criticism, research and transformative creativity should not be placed at the mercy of opaque or erroneous claims. YouTube should strengthen its dispute systems and provide stronger safeguards against demonstrably abusive or mistaken enforcement.
We also call for greater transparency around monetization requirements and policies, meaningful audience feedback, advertising practices and recommendation systems. Viewers should have greater control over their Home page and should not have to accept an increasingly commercial or repetitive experience without meaningful choices.
Another major concern is the growth of AI Slop, particularly mass-produced and repetitive AI-generated material appearing across YouTube and Shorts. We are not calling for responsible use of artificial intelligence to be banned. We are calling for better tools that allow viewers to reduce unwanted mass-produced AI content and for YouTube to distinguish genuine creative work from content produced primarily at scale for attention or revenue.
We also want YouTube to improve the identification of television, film and talk-show clips appearing in Shorts. When YouTube can reliably identify the source, viewers should be given useful information about the original programme, film, episode or broadcast instead of having to search through comments to discover where a clip came from.
Finally, we call for more accurate Made for Kids classification and stronger appeals. Protecting children is important, but animation, documentaries, news, mature discussions and ordinary real-world videos should not be incorrectly treated as children's content simply because of superficial characteristics. Creators need meaningful ways to challenge incorrect classifications and understand why YouTube has made a particular decision.
These concerns are connected by one fundamental demand: YouTube must listen to its community.
We are asking YouTube to make its systems more transparent, its enforcement more accountable, its copyright processes fairer, its monetization policies clearer, its advertising less intrusive, its recommendations more controllable and its platform cleaner from mass-produced low-value content.
We support peaceful and lawful advocacy for these reforms. This campaign is about accountability, not harassment or violence. We want YouTube to succeed, but we believe a successful YouTube must also be a YouTube where creators and viewers have a meaningful voice.
If YouTube's leadership refuses to accept meaningful accountability and reform, this petition also supports the campaign's demand that Neal Mohan resign as CEO of YouTube.
We are asking YouTube to remember what made the platform matter in the first place: people.
Creators. Viewers. Communities.
It is time for YouTube to hear them.
Sign the petition and support REFORM OUR COMMUNITY for a cleaner, fairer and more accountable YouTube.
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Petition created on 22 September 2026