No... commercial... potential...
December 10, 2019 7:27 AM Subscribe
Google-owned YouTube wants to be able to delete accounts that it unilaterally deems not to be "commercially viable." Creators who post about subjects that don't have much commercial potential and who rely on the revenue that their posting generates are justifiably worried. Meanwhile, Google's parent company Alphabet earned USD 31.84 billion just in the fourth quarter of last year.
In response, some creators have organized a YouTube boycott from December 10 to 13, in which they ask creators and consumers alike to refrain from posting or watching anything on YouTube unless it is related to the UK election this Thursday.
The linked Twitter thread contains some alternate resources, such as BreadTube and Means.TV, that will help news mavens get their fix. In the meantime, consider showing some solidarity with small content creators and giving Google something to worry about for once.
In response, some creators have organized a YouTube boycott from December 10 to 13, in which they ask creators and consumers alike to refrain from posting or watching anything on YouTube unless it is related to the UK election this Thursday.
The linked Twitter thread contains some alternate resources, such as BreadTube and Means.TV, that will help news mavens get their fix. In the meantime, consider showing some solidarity with small content creators and giving Google something to worry about for once.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Heya, it seems like this framing is based on old news and things have changed or been clarified since; get in touch if you'd like to post an edited version based on whatever the correct updated info is. (Also in general petitions aren't good for FPPs, so better to omit that in the post) -- LobsterMitten
The TOS doesn't say it wants to delete accounts that aren't commercially viable, it says it wants to be able to terminate services you're accessing that aren't commercially viable. YT clarified this months ago:
To clarify, there are no new rights in our ToS to terminate an account bc it’s not making money. As before, we may discontinue certain YouTube features or parts of the service, for ex., if they're outdated or have low usage. This does not impact creators/viewers in any new ways.
posted by Jairus at 7:31 AM on December 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
To clarify, there are no new rights in our ToS to terminate an account bc it’s not making money. As before, we may discontinue certain YouTube features or parts of the service, for ex., if they're outdated or have low usage. This does not impact creators/viewers in any new ways.
posted by Jairus at 7:31 AM on December 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
YouTube has made it possible for a lot of people to create and earn a living from it, but like every other time you rely on a service that isn't yours and you don't pay for you're making a deal with the devil. You have to play by their rules and have little recourse when they make capricious changes. This is why I'm sad to see Spotify vacuum up podcasts the way YouTube vacuumed up the nacent online video world.
Free hosting sounds great, but nothing is ever truly free.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:34 AM on December 10, 2019
Free hosting sounds great, but nothing is ever truly free.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:34 AM on December 10, 2019
Commercially viable is the standard for what can be on youtube? So this is Google not being evil some more.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:37 AM on December 10, 2019
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:37 AM on December 10, 2019
The clarification from YouTube means nothing unless they update the wording in the new ToS. The language they are using absolutely gives them the right to delete accounts that don't make money. Just because they issued a clarification saying they promise they won't use the ToS in this way doesn't mean jack shit, unless you just decide to trust YouTube which...
posted by lazaruslong at 7:37 AM on December 10, 2019
posted by lazaruslong at 7:37 AM on December 10, 2019
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Welp, this is the part I was going to boycott anyway.
posted by chavenet at 7:30 AM on December 10, 2019