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VG247: YouTube updated terms give it free rein to terminate channels deemed "not commercially viable".

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Scott Lufkin

Scott Lufkin

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Dec 7, 2017
1,525

There was some chatter on Reddit about this last night that I dismissed, a friend of mine read this as "if I use ad blockers on YouTube they will ban my Gmail account so I'm moving all my services off @gmail and using a different email address". I don't get that take myself, but maybe he's right and I'm wrong?

But regardless, VG247 breaking this down seems to make it clear Google wants to ... scare away all their YouTube content creators? Why would they do this? This seems like a terrible idea that's going to backfire and have creators scrambling for new places to move to, wouldn't you expect?

I have a little channel with around 1300 subscribers, it's cool - I can put up some fun videos and people sometimes like them and more often ignore them - and I don't monetize so I don't think I have anything to worry about - but then again, I'm not commercially viable either?

EDIT: From the VG247 article (see Threadmark):
Update: The line in question has actually been part of YouTube's terms of service since last year, but the most recent update changed the wording.

"YouTube may terminate its legal agreement with you if the provision of the service to you by YouTube is, in YouTube's opinion, no longer commercially viable."

That line has now been changed to the harsher and clearer, "YouTube may terminate your access, or your Google account's access to all or part of the Service if YouTube believes, in its sole discretion, that provision of the Service to you is no longer commercially viable."
 
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DireRaven

DireRaven

Member
Oct 27, 2017
797
So the likes of Logan Paul & PDP can spout as much shit as they want now, because it's not about the controversy, it's all about the viability and ad clicks (just glad YouTube are being up and honest about what a lot of us already knew).
 
kubev

kubev

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Oct 25, 2017
7,533
California
I interpreted this as them being able to terminate channels that ad partners wouldn't likely want to run ads on.
 
Yuntu

Yuntu

Prophet of Regret Corrupted by Vengeance
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Nov 7, 2019
10,822
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Thats fucked up. "You dont make us enough money, now scram!"

Would be like a F2P game banning players that dont pay for anything.
 
djplaeskool

djplaeskool

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,829
Might as well put up a disclaimer stating they reserve the right to terminate your account at any time for whatever reason we deem appropriate.
Which I thought was the case anyways.
 
MrHedin

MrHedin

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Dec 7, 2018
6,844
kubev said:
I interpreted this as them being able to terminate channels that ad partners wouldn't likely want to run ads on.
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Same. If you are putting out content that makes advertisers stay away then they have the right to terminate you under this policy. We'll see if it would actually be enforced against anyone with large followings though.
 
Jessie

Jessie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,921
This is Capitalism in a nutshell. In order to sustain infinite growth you need to betray your roots and turn into a cold, uncaring corporation. It's up to users to decide when they've had enough, otherwise it'll keep getting worse.
 

Deleted member 2620

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capital is fine with hate as long as it's profitable, and this allows google to sit back and let advertisers determine whether or not a channel is hateful enough to scare them away, I guess

seems pretty unsurprising! they'll get away with it.
 
PowerThroughLov

PowerThroughLov

Member
Oct 27, 2017
744
New York, NY
This seems like more a response to people uploading videos to Youtube for storage (as opposed to using Google Drive or something) with no intention of actually sharing them. Which I don't think is that big a deal. I don't think YouTube intends to start going after small creators.
 
djplaeskool

djplaeskool

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,829
WillyFive said:
There are a ton, from TikTok to Instagram Video to Facebook Video to Twitch, but the people that use YouTube don't want to leave YouTube.
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With the allowances of content beyond games slowly expanding, Twitch might be the only viable alternative.
Ya know, if you want to go team Amazon instead of Google...
 
zma1013

zma1013

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Oct 27, 2017
7,693
Is this a way to remove a bunch of videos taking up a lot of space but have no views? Like those joke videos "Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber makes an annoying sound for 12 hours."
 

Deleted member 13707

Account closed at user request
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Oct 27, 2017
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That wording is so down to interpretation. "not commercially viable" either means that we can terminate your channel's monetization because of your behavior and/or inappropriate comments screwing us out of sponsors, or your channel is just not demonstrating enough revenue. This is a cold means of damning up the flood of new creators that depended on this newfound income. I wish there was more extrapolation to clarify if this is a conduct issue, or a channel performance issue.
 
Unicorn

Unicorn

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Oct 29, 2017
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PowerThroughLov said:
This seems like more a response to people uploading videos to Youtube for storage (as opposed to using Google Drive or something) with no intention of actually sharing them. Which I don't think is that big a deal. I don't think YouTube intends to start going after small creators.
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You just described small creators..
 
DrArchon

DrArchon

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Oct 25, 2017
15,485
RADRAD said:
I wish there was more extrapolation to clarify if this is a conduct issue, or a channel performance issue.
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The secret is that it's both and more. It's worded vaguely enough that it lets them delete channels for whatever reason they want while saying it was for commercial viability reasons.
 
NineConsonants

NineConsonants

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
5,210
I can't imagine this is for inappropriate content because they already have policies around that. This sounds like it's for content that is not interesting enough to generate revenue from views. Then "You"Tube isnt going to be what it once was anymore. This sounds like it's moving to a tv format where they feel there is only so much attention that can be given to the service and only want profitable things to be on it.
 
Coyote Starrk

Coyote Starrk

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
53,502
I hope this is their way of giving themselves power to shut down some of the shittier channels out their that push conspiracy theories and bigotry.
 

Deleted member 15395

Unshakable Resolve
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Oct 27, 2017
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Wasn't there talk of them doing this some years ago?

I seem to recall the issue being that Youtube became too large for its own good, it's either not profitable or not profitable enough with the massive amount of channels and content that is not monetized.
 

Deleted member 17207

user requested account closure
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I was just saying to my wife this weekend when I was forced to watch two annoying ads before every video: "remember YouTube before ads? When there were full movies on it? That was a time".

Now this.
 
PowerThroughLov

PowerThroughLov

Member
Oct 27, 2017
744
New York, NY
Unicorn said:
You just described small creators..
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Im trying to describe people like my mom and dad uploading old Christmas videos so they have them "stored online". They never intend for anyone else to look at them, they just want them backed up for free. I don't have an issue with YouTube clamping down on that sort of thing.

Small Creators may not get large viewership, but they *intend* for people to watch their videos. I can't imagine YouTube is trying to stop that. If they are, then I'm just as against this as you, but this seems more like the first sort of situation.
 
Umbrella Carp

Umbrella Carp

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Jan 16, 2019
3,265
It's way past time Google's monopoly on media streaming was challenged. Twitch and Mixer are perfectly placed to do this
 
Amnixia

Amnixia

â–˛ Legend â–˛
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Jan 25, 2018
10,468
Masterspeed said:
Please for the love of god can someone make a new alternative to YouTube. Fuck YouTube.
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But people won't use it because the content is already there, and a comparable infrastructure is incredibly expensive.

A nonprofit shouldn run YT, with a clear mandate.
Funded by multiple sources and preferably not government run.
 

Deleted member 18944

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The provision is about if Google finds their service (YouTube) no longer viable that they can discontinue the service.

Not "they are terminating channels that aren't commercially successful."
 
Quacktion

Quacktion

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Oct 27, 2017
6,505
Yea this is pretty dangerous. Youtube needs a viable competitor that isnt livestream focused.
 

Deleted member 22750

Oct 28, 2017
13,267
all the great vids are gonna be deleted
 
LiK

LiK

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Oct 25, 2017
32,167
InRainbows said:
all the great vids are gonna be deleted
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I tend to download videos often cuz sometimes they do get deleted or go private for unknown reasons. Some older stuff are completely gone cuz I didn't have the knowledge on how to backup them and there are no reuploads which makes me sad.
 
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