YouTube’s Cryptocurrency Purge Deepens; 3 Strike Rule Threatens Livelihoods
- YouTube’s cryptocurrency onslaught worsened over Christmas.
- Creators face permanent expulsion from the platform as they accumulate community guidelines strikes.
- Some have claimed responsibility for the attack, but the truth remains obscured.
YouTube’s onslaught against cryptocurrency content creators shows no sign of letting up following the initial Christmas attack. In the hours since the social media giant first started removing videos from its platform the number of removals has only increased.
Furthermore, some creators had over 100 of their videos deleted and have now begun to rack up community guidelines strikes. According to YouTube’s own guidelines, the accumulation of three strikes in a 90 day period results in a user’s permanent removal from the platform.
That’s a worrying prospect for the Nugget’s News channel, which, according to its creator, Alex Saunders, recently hired new staff. Saunders received two strikes in the past day, leaving him one step away from sudden and permanent suspension from YouTube.
YouTube’s days as a gathering place to watch mindless cat videos are long over. Now, entire businesses are based on the video-sharing platform. Independent media companies with production values to rival television shows are not an uncommon sight on YouTube.
In lieu of any communication from the social media giant, YouTubers have been forced to batten down the hatches for the time being. Several prominent creators elected to make their videos private until the situation becomes clear.
Explaining YouTube’s Motives
As of December 26th, numerous theories have emerged which attempt to explain the reasoning behind YouTube’s removal of cryptocurrency videos.
One of the first assumptions was that someone with malicious intent was flagging the videos on purpose. That was the view of crypto YouTuber, Chico Crypto, who received threats from someone claiming responsibility for the video removals.
Seen below, Chico Crypto was contacted by the person on another social media platform, where he was warned:
This is only the beginning of your demise, Chico. You started a war which you will not win. I Sam Smith vow to bring upon you the same pain which you did to me.
Another less devious suggestion to emerge was that YouTube simply removed videos which included forwarding links to cryptocurrency exchanges.
Google’s implementation of ‘Your Money, Your Life’ laws have spread far and wide in recent months. Even those in the print media have been forced to tone down the way they discuss money matters and investment advice.
However, enough creators have since revealed their deleted videos contained no such links to exchanges, nullifying the theory.
A Sign of Cryptocurrency’s Legitimacy?
Despite the carnage caused by YouTube’s sudden of removal of videos relating to cryptocurrency, many see a silver lining begin to emerge.
It was suggested previously that YouTube was being used as a proxy battleground to secure Google’s ascension in the banking industry. Or more accurately, the “banking data” industry.
If true, it would mean that both Google and coin holders feel the same way about cryptocurrency’s emergent threat to the financial hegemony.
That notion was echoed by the crypto YouTuber behind the Crypto Tips channel. Heidi, who goes by @Blockchainchickon Twitter, suggested this was the first step in an information war designed to halt crypto’s rise.
This article was edited by Samburaj Das.
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