Video of the Week: YouTube Is Shutting Down My Channel and I’m Not Sure What To Do (by Philip DeFranco)

I have an unwritten rule when it comes to writing the articles on Fridays, and that’s to avoid talking about videos that discuss the news. The reason behind this decision was because all the necessary opinions are being discussed there and then. I’ve chosen videos that I am able to talk about myself with, or to give an opinion on a matter that has been addressed in the video, but the video doesn’t fall into the category of “the news”. When it comes to news channels, although I do have an opinion on what has been addressed, it’s more for personal reasons, or because I would only be boring you with my reasons, especially if I chose nothing but news channels. However, today I would like to make an exception to that rule. I mean, it’s an unwritten demand therefore not permanently set in stone.

YouTube has very recently made changes to its terms and conditions page which states what can and cannot be shown on its website, and if you follow these rules, you won’t have any problems, but if you break any of the rules, then you will get flagged by the automated system that’s keeping an eye on all videos to see if they are breaking the rules or not. YouTube has been around for years – it has become the number one video sharing website in the world. The statistics are mind-blowing. Unfortunately, the system as described above isn’t as simple as that. For a couple of years, YouTube has made certain changes to its automated system and it’s appearing to do more harm than good. Many verified and popular content creators across the site has been hit with his automated system stating that it has gone against the terms and conditions and therefore has taken the necessary measures to make sure it won’t keep continuing, either by restricting the amount of content you can upload at any one time, or by outright deleting your channel forever. The last time this automated system stormed through YouTube, an almost uncountable amount of people was hit hard with strikes and the deletion of their channel. They’ve appealed and successfully put forward their defense which has allowed the strikes to disappear or they’ve regained their channel back.

It was a messy period of time, but it appears that it never really settled back down again. It seems that YouTube has updated its terms and conditions again and the system is back at flagging videos that go against them, repeating the process all over again.

It’s perfectly understandable why YouTube needs terms and conditions. If there weren’t any, then everybody will be able to upload anything and that would get increasingly disordered and complicated. If there weren’t any terms and conditions beforehand, then with what would be uploaded would certainly make YouTube introduce them rather quickly, and the system would then float through YouTube taking down all videos that are deemed inappropriate, and things would be a lot more manageable and would also bring more people to the site as there is no fear of seeing something that would disturb you for the rest of the day or longer. But there were terms and conditions to begin with, and therefore no one could upload anything they wanted, which made things simple and easy to maintain, and people came in their millions per year during the eleven years YouTube has been running for, and as well as becoming an incredibly popular entertainment outlet, it has also become a career for hundreds of people. It seems that the evidence that is being presented to us now is YouTube is trying to fix what was already running smoothly to begin with because they prevented people from doing whatever they wanted. It doesn’t make any sense if you glance at the problem, but if you dive into it and pay close attention to what is going on, it still doesn’t really make much more sense.

The video above stars Philip DeFranco. He’s one of the most popular news channels on the site, famous for giving his opinions on topics across the world. In every video that has a major topic that involves one or more people, he always explains the situation and puts forward the two sides of the argument before giving his opinion on the matter, then ends that segment by asking his audience their opinions, to which they respond and a large community has been built up. Those that watch him knows exactly who Philip is and his opinions on certain matters, and now and again he does expresses that he understands if people do disagree with his opinions, to which he then prompts a discussion on that matter. It’s a well-oiled machine that has been running for several years now, and no one has any problems with him. If they dislike his view points, then they simply do the sensible thing and walk away without fuss, or if they agree with his opinions, or like me, wants to see another person’s viewpoint on the matter. He does have a very neutral, level-headed personality that allows him to see the world for what it is.

And then without warning, he gets flagged by the automated system which has stated that his content is not “advertiser-friendly”. The new terms and conditions are below.

From looking at these new terms and conditions, we can see that ninety-nine percent of these policies basically describe exactly what’s in almost every single Philip DeFranco’s videos. And if we look even deeper, we discover that this state that hundreds, if not thousands of videos are eligible to be taken down by the automated system. If they are taken down, then what you’re left with is essentially a family-friendly YouTube.

A family-friendly YouTube? I’m not disregarding that, because anything that’s family-friendly would mean more people can watch it. Why make something specifically for the parents if the kids can’t watch it – well that just means fewer people visiting the site, surely. I can see the logic behind that – I think – but is it necessary to abide by it, though? For ten years, YouTube has grown and is now holding every form of entertainment. Songs, short films, gaming, educational, documentaries, and much, much more. YouTube has grown so big that it is, if not already has dominated that of the TV as well, prompting a load of TV networks to create specific content for the site, or to promote their shows via highlights and clip shows. As things were gradually changing, people were able to adjust properly and make it a well-oiled machine again. TV is losing out, YouTube isn’t losing out, everybody is happy. With all of that going on, YouTube has targeted every corner of all demographics. Doesn’t that make it already family-friendly already? I mean, YouTube has taken certain and necessary precautions to make sure that any particular content is restricted for certain demographics, but 99% percent of the time, no one batters an eyelid because everyone is watching what they like.

What they are trying to do, essentially, is turn it into something it is already, and that’s actually breaking the entire system altogether. By reinforcing the family-friendly aspect of the site, you are destroying it.

An important point that needs to be raised is whether or not YouTube is actually suppressing free-speech. It’s a complicated matter that cannot really be explained or talked about properly as it is just too big of a thing to do so, but YouTube is a perfect example of free-speech. Swearing, certain viewpoints, certain jokes in the right context, certain content in the right context is governed by free-speech. By getting rid of swearing, vulgar language, certain jokes in the right context, and certain content in the right context, then it’s understandable why people deem YouTube’s actions as restricting Free-speech.

There is an upside to all of this. Whenever the automated system is updated, it goes on a purge, taking down everything and anything, and then the controversial actions start to die down after a couple of weeks because things have settled down to a manageable level once again. It seems that whatever the system can get a hold of, it takes it down with properly assessing it first. Of course that isn’t the case, but from many people’s perspectives, that’s exactly what is going on. Now that the terms and conditions have actually been changed to correspond with the changes in the automated system, now’s the time to start panicking. What is going to happen next is completely unknown. Even the prediction that I’ve just made doesn’t hold any weight anymore.

We can shout and complain, but unfortunately all we can do is sit and wait for what’s going to happen next, and that’s scary. Have you ever accidentally broken something, and after successfully repairing it, you discover that there are a few pieces left to one side and no matter how much you search you simply cannot find where they go, and whatever it is you’ve broken works absolutely fine as if it didn’t need those parts in the first place? But, after deliberately breaking something for various reasons, upon trying to fix it, it will never work again unless you do find where those parts go? Can you see where I’m going with this analogy, because it’s longer than I expected it to be?

Anyway, that’s my thoughts on what has been happening with YouTube. I’ll try not to break my unwritten rule for a while to come.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)