YouTube Restores Cryptocurrency Content, Calls Purge a Mistake

YouTube is taking steps to re-enable several crypto-related videos that were taken down from its platform recently. 

The company drew the ire of several industry influencers earlier this week, after they openly complained about their content being flagged and taken down from its platform prematurely. 

Users Complain About Videos Taken Down

Chris Dunn, a YouTuber who frequently promotes cryptocurrencies on his channel, noticed on December 24 that YouTube had taken down all his videos in which he mentioned cryptocurrencies. 

In a tweet complaining about the whole thing, he explained that the company had done so citing ‘harmful or dangerous content’ and ‘sale of regulated goods.’ He added his pedigree on the app, which included over 210,000 subscribers, over 7 million views, and at least a decade making videos. 

.@YouTube just removed most of my crypto videos citing "harmful or dangerous content" and "sale of regulated goods"… it's been 10 years of making videos, 200k+ subs, and 7M+ views. WTF are you guys doing @TeamYouTube?! pic.twitter.com/MPcKbBVrC4

— Chris Dunn (@ChrisDunnTV) December 23, 2019

A similar predicament befell Robert Beadles, host of YouTube channel Crypto Beadles. On December 24, he found out that the video platform had shut him down temporarily. 

“Hey peeps! @YouTube @YTCreators has shut us down for a while. Guess free content and never taking a penny for any content is bad? We’ll post on my Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram going forward all accounts are under Robert Beadles there. God Bless #censorship #youtube #bitcoin,” he tweeted. 

YouTube Promises to Fix Its Error

The initial lack of communication from the company left video makers perplexed, as many feared that the company could have adopted anti-crypto policies without giving them a heads up.

YouTube has now taken positive action concerning these cases, as it explained in a December 26 tweet that the censorship moves were the result of a review error on their part. Replying to a disgruntled user, YouTube assured everyone that the problem would be resolved in due time, and they’ll get their access back soon.

Hey there, this was an error on our side during the review process – your video should be reinstated and strikes resolved. Let us know if you're seeing otherwise!

— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) December 26, 2019

Speaking with news medium CoinDesk, a spokesperson for YouTube explained that the company had made the “wrong call.”

“With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call. When it’s brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it. We also offer uploaders the ability to appeal removals and we will re-review the content,” the spokesperson added. 

However, while the company explained that it hasn’t changed its policies on videos, several YouTube crypto influencers have still reported that some of their videos are yet to be restored. On Boxing Day, Dunn gave an update on the situation, claiming that while some of his videos have been restored, several- including videos that weren’t taken down the first time- were still missing. 

1/ Latest update on the @YouTube disaster: Yesterday my channel strike was removed and videos were showing "appeal approved", but only a few of them were actually reinstated on my channel again. pic.twitter.com/CbqZbUHIAD

— Chris Dunn (@ChrisDunnTV) December 26, 2019

While YouTube seems committed to rectifying the problem, several crypto influencers on the platform have now expressed their desire to move to decentralized platforms instead. 

Think twice about building a business on a platform some other company controls. The more popular the platform is, the less compunction they'll feel about crushing you. https://t.co/tq80kkQCVN

— Paul Graham (@paulg) December 26, 2019

Dunn already claimed that he had made a goodbye video to upload on the platform, and was only waiting to see if the situation clears up.

If he does, he’ll be moving to a “decentralized video platform,” where no single party controls access.