YouTube developers have announced that the service is relaxing the controversial rules on profanity introduced late last year. The company says the new rules result in a stricter approach than expected. Policy update allows authors to use moderate to strong profanity without risking demonization.

The initial policy, implemented in November, flagged any video that used profanity in the first 15 seconds of the video and made it not eligible for monetization; This meant that YouTube wouldn’t advertise on such videos. Many authors noted that they lost their monetization feature as a result.

In January, YouTube announced plans to change the new rules. The new changes will make creators eligible for limited advertising if they use vulgar profanity in the first few seconds of a video. These videos haven’t received any ad revenue since the November update. The company also states that video content containing moderate or severe profanity will be eligible for monetization after the first 7 seconds unless it is reused for the majority of the video. Previously, such videos did not generate revenue from advertisements. YouTube also said it will review videos from creators whose monetization was impacted by the November update.

The company also explained how it is handling profanity in music and noted that moderate to strong profanities used in background music, background, intro/output music can now generate full ad revenue. Previously, such content could not bring profit. Also, any profanity in headlines and thumbnails will continue to throttle ad revenue. The new policy has already taken effect.