to much garbage on Youtube these days.... I don't know how some guy picking his nose can get 1million views
Bad example because that guy is an After Effects expert video editor and has over 1M subs on his channel. He has worked hard to get to that number and is at a point where he can sneeze and animate snot hitting the screen, his fans will view that 1M times too.
While I feel the new standards for monetization are pretty rough, I do believe its simply a maturing industry that is forging a path forward.
Do we reward kids running around punching random strangers in the face with ad revenue?
No, that is ridiculous.
How about those prank channels where somebody gets hurt?
Spiderman and Elsa making out and other sexual behavior being passed off as kids videos? (its happened)
The industry is growing up, capitalism finds a way and in America, we trust capitalism should forge the right path (most of the time).
If bad behavior gets rewarded with revenue, then it encourages more bad behavior.
If quality content gets rewarded, then it will lead to more quality, which is where this is supposed to be going.
I know this opens up the question "who gets to decide what is quality or not?"
Very simple, the advertisers do.
Youtube was more than happy to collect revenue from your video, regardless of what the content was. But if advertisers are saying "hold on now, we don't want our ads showing up on neo-nazi videos!", then capitalism and spoken and youtube will adjust to maximize their revenue streams.
In short, it is not youtube dictating what is acceptable or not, it is their clients, the advertisers that are making recommendations and youtube is adjusting course.
As a business, Google (youtube) seeks to maximize profitability. They would not be taking these drastic steps if it meant less money. They see this move as rewarding quality content, bringing in higher paying ads and maximizing profits. Content producers need to adjust accordingly.