Yet another prominent YouTuber has complained of unwarranted flagging, demonetisation and channel deletion threats.
Koi Fresco, who has 468,000 subscribers on YouTube, says in this video that his channel appears to be on the radar for YouTube's algorithms,
"so that when any small keyword, any small thing whatsoever pops up, they just hit our videos right away, before they even go live, with a demonitization notice, or with a flag…"
Koi says he has emailed YouTube and has asked them to explain it, but they deny that it's happening.
Many of the targeted videos, he says, are totally innocuous, including one called "Motivational Methods for 2018", which he says got flagged within minutes of its release.
I have watched many of Koi's videos, and he generally talks about how he became free of substance abuse and found a more spiritual focus. He has often said that he takes no drugs or alcohol.
Koi mentions a couple of his friends who make YouTube videos that are also being frequently flagged, and whose channels are under threat of being removed. I'm not familiar with Koi's friends' channels, but a cursory glance suggests that they are focused on psychedelic drugs, although one of them seems to be warning against most drugs. This may be the reason that they are receiving "age restriction" flags.
It could be argued that this kind of material is not suitable for young people – but if that's the case, should certain books be age-restricted? Such as Aldous Huxley's "The Doors of Perception", which details the author's experiences with psychoactive drugs?
If YouTubers are under threat of having their entire channels banned because they have made some videos describing what it's like to take certain drugs, by the same token, should the entire works of Aldous Huxley be banned, including the classic Brave New World?
I think it's a worrying development (but maybe not a surprising one).
This is affecting me as a YouTube viewer. I'm definitely seeing fewer interesting YouTube videos among my subscriptions. I watch an eclectic variety of hillwalking and climbing videos, independent media such as James Corbett and Wearechange, health such as Dr Greger of Nutrition Facts (pictured below, whose name bizarrely appeared on the Washington Post "Prop or Not?" blacklist of "routine peddlers of Russian propaganda") and others.
I've recently noticed a reduction in the amount of interesting content to watch on YouTube. That could be because I'm not finding the type of content that interests me, or it could be that some of the smaller YouTubers I like are just not making so many videos, because it's no longer worth their while.
That is the case for me, in fact. I have a very small YouTube channel which I once thought was just on the verge of success. The number of overall views had suddenly started to gather speed, and I was on the way to the magic 10,000 overall views required to achieve monetisation. But just as that figure was achieved, YouTube set a new obstacle in my path: I was now required to have at least 1,000 subscribers (I have just over 100) – and 4,000 hours of watch time.
Monetisation would only have earned me a few cents in any case, but it's a kind of psychological goal that seems to be thwarted every time I'm within reach of achieving it. The result is, that I start to lose interest in it. My priorities move elsewhere – to Steemit, Dtube (except my computer is sadly too outdated to access it – but I'm working towards getting an upgrade) and outside work.
I have videos filmed, but I just can't seem to find the time to edit them.
I suspect this is the case with many smaller YouTubers. It's no longer going to be the outlet where anyone can film themselves and find an audience. Instead, it will be the voice of the establishment and Big Money.
I was going to add a comment to Koi Fresco's video, urging him to start producing content on Dtube – but I noticed that there were already more than 600 comments, many of them already discussing Dtube. In fact, Dtube is getting free advertising all over YouTube, every time a YouTuber complains that their channel is under threat.
Every time YouTube flags a hardworking YouTuber producing quality content, it's really flagging itself.