YouTube Updates Guidelines to Ban “Dangerous” Pranks

No More Tide Pod or Bird Box Challenges

Perhaps prompted by the most recent spate of Bird Box challenge videos, YouTube has officially updated their guidelines to ban pranks deemed dangerous. “We’ve always had policies to make sure what’s funny doesn’t cross the line into also being harmful or dangerous,” says the Dangerous Challenges Update FAQ.

Just like the Netflix movie which inspired the Bird Box challenge, users would wear blind folds and go out in public. While it started innocously enough obviously, this trend just led to YouTubers one-upping each other to gain more views. One teenager even crashed their car while driving with a blind-fold on.

The ban on dangerous pranks is a long time coming considering the Tide Pod eating craze of 2018. There was also the case of children being taken away by the State from parents abusing their kids for “pranks”. There was even an aspiring YouTuber who died after believing a phonebook would stop a bullet from a .50-caliber Desert Eagle pistol.

What is YouTube Doing to Curb These Behaviour?

Aside from updating their guidelines, YouTube is also threatening strikes against channels that “egregiously” violate policies via thumbnails. That means even those who try to use clickbait tactics to mislead viewers can face a ban. Even if the actual body of the video does not have any dangerous prank contents.