YouTube is being chastised by Elon Musk for “nonstop scam ads”

• YouTube’s Terms of Service encourage users to avoid swearing on the site for the sake of advertising, but they don’t restrict it.
• Scammers have already preyed on Musk supporters by claiming ownership of a phoney SpaceX digital coin, making $9 million in advertising revenue from the video.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared a series of tweets on YouTube, including a meme mocking the company’s hypocrisy in battling scam ads after claiming to block things like cursing.

Elon Musk tweeted, “YouTube seems to be nonstop scam ads”

YouTube seems to be nonstop scam ads

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 7, 2022

YouTube’s Terms of Service encourage users to avoid swearing on the site for the sake of advertising, but they don’t restrict it.

According to their policy, the platform prohibits producers from monetizing their movies if they contain excessive profanity or obscenity. The ban does not apply to music videos on the platform, though.

Read More: On Google TV, Android TV, and Roku, YouTube TV now has 5.1 audio

Insider spoke with a Google spokesperson who said the company’s policy bans ads that are intended to confuse or mislead users.

Elaborating on the policy, the spokesperson said, “We have a range of ads policies that are designed to combat scams and other deceptive practices by bad actors, including policies that prohibit ads impersonating other brands and trademark abuse. These policies apply to all Google Ads, including those on YouTube, and we enforce them vigorously – in 2021 alone we blocked or removed 175 million ads across our platform for violating our misrepresentation and trademark policies.”

Read More: Xiaomi teams up with YouTube to provide free premium access for up to three months

At least 18 lawsuits have been filed against YouTube as a result of a series of bitcoin scams. Scammers have already preyed on Musk supporters by falsely claiming ownership of a phoney SpaceX digital coin, making $9 million in advertising revenue from the video.

Despite the fact that YouTube has previously maintained a firm position against policing misinformation, particularly after banning Donald Trump from the platform, 80 fact-checking organisations have called on the corporation to do so.