Lifting YouTube’s Ban and Its Impact on Iranian Content Creators
Advocates for internet freedom believe that lifting the ban on YouTube could eliminate or severely disrupt Iranian parallel platforms. On the other hand, some social media users argue that removing the ban might negatively impact the revenue generated by Iranian content creators on this platform. This raises the question: Is the YouTube ban beneficial or harmful?
According to Iran digital economy, the issue of lifting YouTube’s ban has gained traction with the change in the Minister of Communications and promises made by Masoud Pezeshkian regarding social media filtering. Given the preliminary steps taken by the previous government towards unblocking this website and Google Play, it seems that lifting the ban on these two platforms might be quicker compared to others, as they were blocked directly by the working group on crime content and filtering, and their unblocking must also go through this group.
After Mohammad Javad Shakouri, CEO of Saba Idea (which owns Aparat, Filimo, Cinema Ticket, etc.), posted on X requesting that the new Minister of Communications prioritize lifting the YouTube ban, many users reacted, considering his comments as an attempt to soften public opinion.
Users on X discussed the impact of lifting the filtering on Persian content creators. In one popular post, Hamid Reza Zolfaghari, CEO of Payzito, wrote: “If YouTube is unblocked, Persian YouTube income will become zero.”
Content creators on YouTube earn revenue through various means, including advertisements displayed on the platform through Google AdSense. Due to the sanctions against Iran’s use of Google AdSense, users must change their IP addresses and use intermediary companies for financial transactions.
Vahid Farid, an advocate for free internet access, explained: “YouTube’s system displays advertisements based on the user’s location. Revenue from these ads is shared between the content creator and YouTube.”
He elaborated on revenue generation: “If their ban is lifted and users access the platform from an Iranian IP, advertisements may not be displayed for them. Advertisers typically target markets where their products are sold, but due to Iran’s sanctions, it doesn’t place ads on Persian content viewed from within Iran, resulting in no revenue for content creators.”
Farid also mentioned the possibility of Iranian ads being displayed: “It’s possible that if the filtering is lifted, Iranian companies might use intermediaries to place ads on Persian content, similar to satellite ads for Iranian products abroad, though this is unlikely.”
He cited the low probability of this due to the weaker value of the Iranian Rial compared to the Euro or Dollar: “Google’s ad revenue model prioritizes ads based on the budget set. When content is viewed with a European IP, payments are made in Euros. Even if Iranian companies start placing ads, the cost-effectiveness of their ads will remain low.”
Ali Farakhi, a consultant for Iranian userrs at Zino Network and an advocate for free internet access, added: “Agencies and businesses requesting ads on YouTube prefer not to have their ads shown in countries like Russia, Cuba, and Iran, which are under sanctions and cannot purchase their products. However, since some Iranian VPNs now connect through tunnels outside Iran, YouTube may recognize Iranian users, but it will pay content creators based on other viewers.”
He noted that due to sanctions, Iranian content creators often connect to a shared Google financial account or use intermediary companies that link multiple YouTube channels to a central account, with a portion of their revenue taken by these intermediaries.
Nevertheless, content creators can still earn revenue through sponsorships and ads in their videos.
Vahid Farid concluded: “Regardless of what happens to content creators’ earnings, it’s the right of Iranian users to have access to YouTube. YouTube is an online university, and we shouldn’t think of lifting the ban as a bad thing just because Iranian users might earn less.”
He added: “The revenue of Iranian users so far has been due to exploiting YouTube’s revenue system. Iranian viewers, using VPNs and non-Iranian IPs, have been watching content and generating ad revenue for Iranian users based on the IP location.”
No Comment! Be the first one.