YouTube reportedly wiping out cryptocurrency videos, channels, and comments

[iam4liberty]

Huge number of reports on social media about a new YouTube ban on cryptocurrency content.  Entire channels have been removed and comments mentioning bitcoin and other currencies are being blocked for violating TOS for illicit items.  Channel owners are challenging bans but isnt clear how it will shake out. Should get clarification from Alphabet after holidays.

[iam4liberty]

https://cointelegraph.com/news/cryptocurrency-influencers-speak-out-on-youtube-deleting-crypto-related-content
Cryptocurrency influencers speak out on youtube deleting crypto related content

YouTube, one of the most popular social media platforms for video sharing, has aggressively started deleting cryptocurrency-related content from some of the biggest influencers in the industry.

Based on Twitter and Reddit threads, YouTube suddenly began deleting a number of cryptocurrency videos on Dec. 23.

YouTuber Chris Dunn, whose channel has over 210,000 subscribers, noticed on Monday that the platform had removed all of his videos that mentioned cryptocurrencies.

Following this, Dunn tweeted, "@YouTube just removed most of my crypto videos citing 'harmful or dangerous content' and 'sale of regulated goods'... it's been 10 years of making videos, 200k+ subs, and 7M+ views. WTF are you guys doing @TeamYouTube?!"

[iam4liberty]

Example of comment block:

[iam4liberty]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2019/12/26/googles-youtube-goes-to-war-with-bitcoin-and-crypto/#54c7623a44a8
Google’s YouTube Goes To War With Bitcoin And Crypto

Some in the bitcoin and cryptocurrency industry have vowed to challenge the decision.

"YouTube deleting all Crypto content is a massive blow to the industry," Ran NeuNer, host of the CryptoTrader show on CNBC Africa, said via Twitter.

"YouTube is the go to place for educational video and the first port of call for new people entering the ecosystem to learn the basics. As a community we should challenge this formally."

Meanwhile, others have been searching for a reason for the purge, finding YouTube's citing of "harmful and dangerous content" unsatisfactory.

"So far Alphabet [Google's parent company] has made no attempt to explain the reasons for the culling," Mati Greenspan, the founder of research group Quantum Economics, wrote in a note.

[Morning Sunshine]

Didn't Google/Alphabet float the idea recently of their own cryptocurrency?  if so, could this be a precursor - wipe the competition?

[iam4liberty]

Didn't Google/Alphabet float the idea recently of their own cryptocurrency?  if so, could this be a precursor - wipe the competition?

No, it was facebook. But Google has google pay, a non-crypto pay service.  But crypto is no threat.  It is such a tiny thing.

[FreeLancer]

I haven't noticed anything on the handful of channels I follow in the space.  There's some speculation that the take-downs are due to SEC compliance issues regarding the disclosure of financial conflicts of interest by content creators shilling shitcoins, of which there are many, but it's not really clear.

One thing's for certain, centralization facilitates censorship, whether it's money or speech, because there's always that choke point where pressure can be applied. 

There's a certain irony in making a living extolling the virtues of information decentralization only to get sandbagged by the centralized publishing platform they've grown to depend on.

[surfivor]

I haven't noticed anything on the handful of channels I follow in the space.  There's some speculation that the take-downs are due to SEC compliance issues regarding the disclosure of financial conflicts of interest by content creators shilling shitcoins, of which there are many, but it's not really clear.

One thing's for certain, centralization facilitates censorship, whether it's money or speech, because there's always that choke point where pressure can be applied. 

There's a certain irony in making a living extolling the virtues of information decentralization only to get sandbagged by the centralized publishing platform they've grown to depend on.

 It's never been clear that crypto currency was a great thing to begin with.  It  could all be controlled and criminalized at any time they decided ..

[David in MN]

Google is a subsidiary of the government. All big tech is. Their biggest customers are the governments of the world. China is cracking down on Bitcoin and Google's biggest customer is... I do believe this year it flipped from the USA to China. Why would they behave to subvert their customers? You don't pay Yutube and content producers don't pay Youtube. You're not their customer.

Got a policy problem? Take it up with Beijing.

[iam4liberty]

https://reclaimthenet.org/youtube-cryptocurrency-censorship/
YouTube deals a massive blow to cryptocurrency community, calls it “harmful or dangerous”, mass deletes videos
YouTube made no announcement that this was coming and quietly dealt the blow as people were wound down for Christmas.

Another community of creators on YouTube is starting to get a taste of the giant video platform's targeted crackdowns and censorship, and the latest one has a name: “The Crypto YouTube Carnage.”

That's how one of those receiving a “harmful content” strike against a video from 2018, who goes by the name Ivan on Tech, dubbed it in a tweet announcing that he had been banned from uploading content on YouTube for a week.
...
This YouTuber said that at least nine of the top crypto channels received strikes on Monday, and speaks about a growing sense of uncertainty among the platform's top talent about their future on YouTube where “each day could be the last” – and the need to be prepared to move to alternatives, which, he argues, need to provide visibility of content along with decentralized hosting.

[FreeLancer]

It can’t be that bad if they haven’t taken down my favorite:  https://youtu.be/7wBg1lBKtyg

Seriously, though, nobody I respect in this space is freaking out about YT, unlike the shitcoin shills. 

[surfivor]

It sounds like they backed off due to many people being upset. They will try it again I’m sure at some point. No doubt some FBI informant or other type will be involved in some crime involving crypto or something may happen to make it sound like something should be done. I would expect something of the sort

[iam4liberty]

It sounds like they backed off due to many people being upset.

This seems to be the case.  In bans youtube always starts with the mid-size properties to see reaction and then moves onto the bigger ones.

They stopped midway through on this ban after thequartering, Tim Pool, and other influential channels started reporring it.  Now youtube says it was a mistake and they are reviewing policy implementation. They had  just started on wallet apps too.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/google-suspends-metamask-from-its-play-app-store-citing-deceptive-services/amp
Google Suspends MetaMask From Its Play App Store, Citing “Deceptive Services”

Google has banned Ethereum (ETH) wallet and decentralized app (DApp) browser Metamask's android client from its Play app store.
...
Over the past several days, Google-owned video giant YouTube had removed videos from the accounts of several cryptocurrency-related content creators. Today, however, YouTube representatives have claimed that the removals were done in error and some content has started to be restored.

[surfivor]

possibly someone might want to post some links to the better videos in case someone might consider downloading them before they disappear

[surfivor]

Now youtube says it was a mistake and they are reviewing policy implementation

 It wasn't a mistake, if I made a mistake that was 01% of what these companies or the FBI does all the time I would be fired in no time. I wasn't born yesterday, it's obviously planned out all the way and then they backed off