Two months ago I talked about how my technology YouTube channel passed the 1,000 subscriber mark.
This is an important milestone as channels typically see a lot more growth once they have reached it because YouTube starts ranking videos higher. This has turned out to be true for me. Over the last two months I have increased my total number of subscribers by nearly 50%.
Unfortunately, I recently faced my first hurdle and got the first strike on my YouTube account.
Why I Received a Strike
Most YouTubers face a strike on their account at one point.
For many people, it is because they used copyrighted video clips or music. Others receive a strike because the content of their video was not favourable. For example, their video included racist material or promoted terrorism or something like that.
So what did I do to get punished by YouTube?
I bought a screwdriver kit from Amazon and reviewed it on my channel. I had pointed out that the kit was half the price of the iFixIt version and was probably the same kit under a different brand and in the comment area someone said that they had designed the original kit.
My video review was later flagged for being deceptive and was automatically removed. I appealed this decision and despite an ongoing appeal going on, my video was deleted just a few days later (the video review of the screwdriver kit that was removed was around 18 minutes long).
I explain what happened in detail in the video below.
The fact that someone can have their video removed and be punished for simply reviewing something they bought on Amazon is both mind boggling and scary.
I am investing a lot of time and money into my YouTube channel. It is a labour of love, but it scares me to think that my videos and channels can be taken away from me at any time for no reason.
The YouTube Strike System
The YouTube strike system presumes guilt for content creators.
I have one strike on my account now. If I receive three strikes, my account and my 400+ worth of videos are automatically deleted and I am not permitted to upload to any YouTube channel again. To say this is extreme is an understatement.
The frustrating part about all of this process is that there is no one to speak to at Google about it. They take 45% of all revenue generated through my videos and yet there is no one I can speak to on the phone and my many emails to them about this issue have gone unanswered. The only responses I have received have been automated.
When a YouTube channel receives a strike, their account becomes limited in some way.
So because I reviewed a screwdriver kit, I am not allowed to live stream through my account for three months. After three months the strike will expire and live streaming will be enabled again.
Without doubt, the punishment does not fit the crime (if you can call reviewing a screwdriver kit a crime).
To add insult to injury, a scammer who has had a vendetta against me since I published an article warning others not to do business with him has uploaded videos with my PayPal information on it. These videos claim I am a scammer and that I am a skinhead racist (I assume the scammer is claiming this because he is from Nigeria and I am a white Scottish man).
I reported both of these videos to YouTube as privacy violations and got told that they could not see anything wrong with these videos.
So to summarise, YouTube has limited my account and deleted one of my videos because I reviewed a screwdriver kit, yet they think it is OK for someone else to abuse me and publish private PayPal transactions from me for the world to see?
The whole situation is ludicrous.
Building a House of Cards
I love recording videos and publishing them on YouTube. It’s a fantastic way to connect to people and for me it is a natural evolution of blogging.
Though this whole experience is concerning.
My concern is that I am building a house of cards that can be torn down at any time. I do appreciate that YouTube have to be pro-active against those who upload copyrighted material and hate videos, but their actions against me are very inconsistent. Additionally, the whole system is setup so that content creators are presumed to be guilty and then provide no way of arguing that standpoint.
Yes, there is a link that allows you to appeal the decision, however during the appeal I have received no contact from YouTube and the video I am trying to protect has since been deleted. If the video has been deleted, how am I supposed to defend myself?
I have always been reluctant to invest time and money and energy into building a product on someone else’s platform as you have no control over what happens. The problem is that there is no alternative to YouTube in the market. If you want to find an audience online with videos, YouTube is the place to go.
Hopefully a positive outcome can come from all of this, but at this point I am not confident that will happen.
Kevin
That’s crazy, Kevin. I’m sorry, and I agree, it makes no sense. It’s so frustrating that there is no alternative, either. On the other hand, congratulations on reaching 1,000 subscribers. That’s awesome!
Thanks Heather. I’m actually closer to 1,500 subscribers now. I’ve got a good group of loyal subscribers now who share my passion for technology and it’s growing every day.
Hopefully I will get a resolution to this.
That’s awesome! And I do hope you get a good resolution. They really need to support their content creators.
I feel bad that this happened, so much for the “Do no harm” motto at Google. However, that said, they own YouTube. They do not charge for the service and considering all of the storage space and bandwidth that is provided, it’s amazing it is free. But as Robert Heinlein said “TANSTAFL” or “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”.
YouTube is a private property owned by Google and they can choose how to run their business in any way they want.
Yes, you are building your house on a stack of cards. You are subject to the whim of what can at times appear to be a petty dictator, but they are a dictatorship, not a democracy.
Same goes for any service in which you are not paying for. Be it GMail, FaceBook, Instagram, etc – nothing is free, you pay for it one way or another and just like a casino, “The House always wins!”.
Thanks for commenting Bill. I am hoping that common sense will prevail and someone at YouTube will resolve this.
I disagree with you on your first point though. YouTube is not free. They take 45% of all of the earnings YouTubers generate. I would happily pay a monthly fee for hosting on YouTube if I was able to keep all of my earnings.
Wow – I did not know they collected that kind of revenue. I upload my videos for free, but I’m not trying to monetize them.
It sounds like you are paying for the service if you’re generating money for them. I suppose the only way to fix it will be to have a competing service that can offer the same value while still giving voice to the people providing the content, is the only way to make it better.
When you have a monopoly, you write the rules. 🙁
I can see them justifying their behavior as they are letting you host the file for free. The money they make is in providing the adverts and taking a portion of the advert revenue.
So they can do as they like with the videos, although if you’re bringing in revenue for them, why cut off a revenue stream?
I have never had a problem with them taking 45% of my commissions in the past, but the complete lack of support is making me question it a little. The problem is that there is no viable alternative. Services such as Vimeo just don’t have the same reach.
I would be OK offering some sort of tiered support system where large YouTubers get priority support and smaller channels need to pay for support (I’m including myself as a small channel). I’d happily pay for a support ticket if it meant a human being actually looked at the issue.
I think your suggestion at the end is best. Pay for support, then they can justify providing it.
I also think their apparent arbitrariness of taking down a video or other draconian steps really do need to be justified. Especially since your a business customer. Giving you a message of “it’s been flagged as deceptive” is so vague. What exactly was deceptive about it? Who filed the complaint? What could have been changed that would alter that assessment?
That’s the problem. At my end I don’t know why, who, or what. I’m in the dark about the whole thing.
Hello Kevin,
That’s weired up here!
Indirectly Google owns the you tube and they can not provide services to their customers. Sorry to hear that they took almost half of your revenue and also put a limitation on your account.
Frankly speaking I never knew that there is a long tale behind you tube strike channel and they can go up to the high level of craziness. Looking forward to make a deep study in this matter.
Congratulation that your touching up to 1.5k subscribers 🙂
Thanks for the share
Shantanu.
Yeah the situation is bad. When you get a second strike you start getting punished in other ways, such as no ability to upload thumbnails or even an option to monetise your videos.