This happened to Thunderf00t's YouTube channel, and it's mainly because he'd call out the people pushing Covid misinformation. He thinks when the videos he'd be criticizing got banned, that his videos would get flagged for using footage from the banned videos, then some internal AI designed to determine re-posting flagged videos then banned his. Eventually YouTube reversed this after several embarrassing videos of their inept support back-and-forwards were made, and some press started contacting YouTube / Googke's PR people for comment about the story, but that should not be how these issues are solved ever.
But this itself isn't the problem IMO. It goes beyond politics really and is mainly just a problem with YouTube that content creators have complained about for years. And that's when they have problems it's utterly impossible to talk to a human being. And if they do, support doesn't look at the original complaint, look at the substance of a video, make a determination on the merits of a content creators appeal, it's like dealing with a brick wall.
This is mainly why I will never use paid services on any of Google, Google Play, YouTube, because if I ever have an account issue, if I ever have a contested charge, if I ever have anything wrong I need some support to contact, they're not there. I had an issue months back where I was unable to view age restricted videos despite all my settings being correct and it's just a random glitch that when it kicks in there is no hope, just make a new account, has been plaguing users of years. You can't report it to Google or YouTube staff. You can only go to user forums that are self moderated and that's it, not outreach to an actual employee, not even just to ask to fix the problem, so they can even know it is a problem and do anything about it. Glad the only thing at most I have done is trial YouTube Red or whatever to watch Cobra Kai and that's it. Glad I never bought a bunch of movies on there only to be locked out of my own purchases.
I am not 100% clear about flags, I have uploaded game footage with licensed music and my videos didn't get removed, just said any monetization off that video would go toward original rights holder. I am fine with that. I heard that the marks on the account come from dragging out losing appeals. So getting videos struck down might not always be a bad mark but if you have a bunch and you keep appealing them in bulk I can see it leading to a suspension.
Also, in our politically charged climate it wouldn't surprise me if some right wing group issued DMCA takedown to shut channel down,, something Thunderf00t is also very familiar with. It can lead to legal consequences against the people claiming to have intellectual ownership of content they don't actually own. So, this might not be end of story, but it really depends on what the details are.
Log in to comment