Complaints Against YouTube Soar Due to "Demonetization"

Author: keith
Category: Business Blog

 

This week thousands of YouTube complaints about "Demonitization' have been registered around the world on websites like Reddit, Twitter, and yes even on YouTube. There are articles being written and channels being taken down, even at this very hour. 

With all of the upset users who have reached out to us, complaints about YouTube are up more than 150% in the last month.

So, we thought a response would be appropriate. But to discuss this current issue, it's wise to look at the past for a moment. YouTube was founded on the idea of free speech. The co-founder Karim was searching for videos of two main stories back in 2004. One awkwardly was of Janet Jackson’s revealed chest. The other was footage of the Indian Ocean Tsunami. He wasn’t able to find much and discovered the need for a video hosting website.

Since then YouTube has grown. But at it's core it's still all about individuality. Perhaps that is what makes YouTube users so upset over YouTube's recent "Demonetization" of many channels. Demonetization is the act of removing advertising from certain videos due to content that is "unfriendly" to advertisers who pay money to YouTube ie. Google.

YouTube was independently owned from 2005-2006. It's roots are in content of all topics and viewing audience.

But the website has been parented by Google since its 2006 purchase for $1.6 billion. No doubt this next step comes down from Google's executive team as a way to protect revenue and extract more money from advertisers.

The very first video on YouTube was titled “Me at the zoo” and is still available to view. Perhaps that video, along with the original searches that led to YouTube's creation, would never have been created had these rules been in place then.

What do you think about YouTube's recent changes around monetization?