The rules for how Zwarte Piet is displayed on YouTube will not be tightened up this year, parent company Google reports to NU.nl.

A Google spokesperson says that YouTube "does not want to get in the way of the discussion about Zwarte Piet".

The fact that the company does not tighten up the rules does not mean that there is no policy at all regarding Zwarte Piet.

Google announced last year that it would take stricter action against the display of Zwarte Piet on its platforms.

For example, Google makes it more difficult to earn money with web pages and videos about Zwarte Piet and the alternative sooty pie.

Videos about and with Zwarte Piet can still be put on YouTube, but advertisements below those videos will be disabled.

The uploader therefore does not earn any money from it.

Google isn't very transparent about which videos are being stripped of ads.

For example, the company does not make any statements about specific cases.

A spokesperson does say that moderators can watch to rate a video if it is reported, for example.

They then check whether the content complies with YouTube's policy.

There is an exception for videos that are educational or journalistic in nature.

Zwarte Piet falls under blackface policy on Facebook

Unlike Google, photos and videos of Zwarte Piet on Facebook have been banned since August last year.

Images showing a person with blackened skin and other stereotypical features, such as a curly wig or red lips, have since been banned.

An independent Facebook committee wrote earlier this year that the image of Zwarte Piet "is shared by many Dutch people without apparent racist intent", but that blackface is "widely recognized as a harmful racial stereotype".

The image of Zwarte Piet is only allowed if it is used to speak neutrally about the phenomenon of Zwarte Piet, in neutral reporting on the subject or if the racist caricature is condemned.

Incidentally, the company cannot share "specific data related to the deletion of accounts, pages or groups".

It is therefore not clear how often this has happened in the past year.

An inventory by NU.nl showed last year that the largest Facebook groups and pages with thousands of supporters of Zwarte Piet could no longer be found after the new policy was introduced.

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