Youtube Targetting Cryptocurrency Channels?

[magic]

Re GMail: goes without saying. I haven't logged in to their web UI in ages, using only an IMAP client which downloads everything to disk. In fact, multiple IMAP clients on multiple machines downloading to multiple disks. They can still lock you out of receiving new mail, though.

It's wonderful to see how the age of information is being used to limit and control that information as every minority finds something to whine about and the majority sits silent.

Not quite. There is a sh*tload of mis-information floating around on the internet. Up to the point where vaccinations which haven proven themselves for decades are being questioned and people let their children die unnecessarily because people fall for the mis-information. The 2010's probably go into the history books as the 'internet FUD years'. It used to be the task of the impartial journalists to seperate facts from fiction and that void needs to be filled again.

You are right but you are wrong too
The truth is that people really are not what they used to be. Maybe it's not autism and maybe it's not because of vaccines, fluorides or 5G, but it is here. People are becoming increasingly passive losers and wimps, and moreover they want everyone to join in their wimphood because they are genuinely scared of anyone who isn't a wimp yet
There is no impartial journalism. Journalism had been taken over by nerds and is wielded as a weapon in their great crusade against anything they consider bullying, it's been that way for a long time. Power corrupts and you want the institutions of science and journalism to have power; it seems your wish had been granted, in full.

[nctnico]

Power corrupts and you want the institutions of science and journalism to have power; it seems your wish had been granted, in full.

Which institutes of science and journalism have power nowadays? Journalism has been declining for decades and science never had much to say to begin with. If only science and journalism had a bigger effect on what people would perceive as what is true amidst all the nonsense.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Also cat videos...

[EEVblog]

Power corrupts and you want the institutions of science and journalism to have power; it seems your wish had been granted, in full.

Which institutes of science and journalism have power nowadays? Journalism has been declining for decades and science never had much to say to begin with. If only science and journalism had a bigger effect on what people would perceive as what is true amidst all the nonsense.

I can remember the day when scientists like Carl Sagan had huge influence.
Now people like Neil Tyson et.al are drowned out in the sea of information overload.

[langwadt]

As an aside, the big tell was the failure of Zuck's attempt to introduce crypto to Facebook.

Creators on y/t are told they are not monetised. So they get paid via crypto. Y/t not getting a slice. Tantrum. Accounts deleted.

youtube is not getting a slice of patreon money or sponsored videos either..

I suspect Youtube just doesn't want to be seen as part of the many scams with crypto, and they don't want to sort between good and bad because it could easily be seen as endorsement

[wilfred]

Also cat videos...

Now that is how to draw attention to the problem. Not the endless whining other youtube creators seems to want to bombard their viewers with.
I wonder if it is a New York thing.

That was one mean looking discontented cat.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Also cat videos...

Now that is how to draw attention to the problem. Not the endless whining other youtube creators seems to want to bombard their viewers with.
I wonder if it is a New York thing.

That was one mean looking discontented cat.

That Clinton sure looks dangerous alright.

And Louis Rossman didn't kill himself.

[Syntax Error]

How YouTube goes about striking content is up for debate, in what can seem an arbitary way, but in defense of YouTube, they are right to target Cryptocurrency channels. Why? The crypto space is a minefield of scammers offering no more than get-poor-quick ponzi schemes. Hence YouTube has a duty of care to the millions of subscribers who use the platform as their principle source of information on crypto-currencies.

BitConnect, OneCoin, Bitfinex and the QuadrigaCX exchange, are just some examples of huge scams^alleged  that have summoned the attention of financial regulators, the FBI and class action lawyers.

All of these products were all placing content on YouTube, either in the form of their official channel or via the myriad of wannabe YouTube stars who set themselves up as CryptoExperts. Experts who were most willing to front their livin-la-crypto-loco lifestyles, whilst remaining clueless to even what a blockchain was... Oh look, another video featuring a Ferrari, tropical beach, Learjet, Dubai skyline... Seriously, would you take life advice from a teenager in his bedroom? So why you taking investment advice then? Oh yes, teenagers know about computers and cryptos are computers... What did happen to CryptoNick?

Seriously, these fraudsters are taking vast sums of real 'fiat' money from hard working people, giving them no more than hopelessness in a smart-wallet, and exploit YouTube to legitimise their snake oil scams. Worse, they undermine the reputation of all YouTubers.

[EEVblog]

This aussie channel is one strike away from being deleted.
This is going to be HUGE, bigger than anything Youtube have done before.
Dozens of channels now, just the ones I have heard about, maybe even into the hundreds by now.

[EEVblog]

How YouTube goes about striking content is up for debate, in what can seem an arbitary way, but in defense of YouTube, they are right to target Cryptocurrency channels. Why? The crypto space is a minefield of scammers offering no more than get-poor-quick ponzi schemes. Hence YouTube has a duty of care to the millions of subscribers who use the platform as their principle source of information on crypto-currencies.

Bullshit. There are and have been countless investment channels over the years, crypto is no different.

All of these products were all placing content on YouTube, either in the form of their official channel or via the myriad of wannabe YouTube stars who set themselves up as CryptoExperts. Experts who were most willing to front their livin-la-crypto-loco lifestyles, whilst remaining clueless to even what a blockchain was... Oh look, another video featuring a Ferrari, tropical beach, Learjet, Dubai skyline... Seriously, would you take life advice from a teenager in his bedroom?

You clearly haven't looked at the channels and videos being taken down.

[EEVblog]

Hence YouTube has a duty of care to the millions of subscribers who use the platform as their principle source of information on crypto-currencies.

That makes youtube a publisher instead of platform. There are HUGE legal implications in this.

[nctnico]

Hence YouTube has a duty of care to the millions of subscribers who use the platform as their principle source of information on crypto-currencies.

That makes youtube a publisher instead of platform. There are HUGE legal implications in this.

I think that Youtube is already deemed to be a publisher and not just a platform. Just look at the many copyright infringement cases over the past decades. Altavista, Google, etc could not get away with claiming they where just a platform which allows to search websites. By gathering and presenting the information they are helping to facilitate the copyright infringement in the cases of copyright infringement. More recent court cases show that 'platforms' like Facebook, Youtube, etc are responsible for the content they publish on their website. Unregulated 'internet' (or better put: generic WWW) has ceased to exist a long time ago (and IMHO for good reasons).

[thinkfat]

Louis Rossmann got two strikes for cat videos. Go figure, YouTube is not targeting anyone in particular, just their stupid AI is going bonkers.

[coppercone2]

Louis Rossmann got two strikes for cat videos. Go figure, YouTube is not targeting anyone in particular, just their stupid AI is going bonkers.

but googles sister unit works fine!

[Syntax Error]

@EEVBlog : Dude, harsh 

Unlike regular investments or investment channels, the crypto market is wholey unregulated. With the collective magnitude of losses from those who put their life savings into these crypto-scams, after thoroughly researching their investments on YouTube, the class action lawyers will be looking to the largest and lowest hanging fruit - which is Alphabet, aka Google. Google is not exactly flavour of the month with governments, so beating the Big Greedy also looks good.

But why would Alphabet's board of Directors - Sorry team YouTube - go to war on crypto content over the holiday period? Did they think no-one would notice because we're all partying in Boca Raton (other Trump resorts are available).

Maybe this is an algorithm gone rogue? Or there's a boiler room of content censors in south east somewhere? Censors who lack the necessary understanding of the nuances of the English language. "Harmfull and dangerous" just means, "that what we click johnny!"

How does the State of California, where most 'internet law' is upheld, define dangerous? Reading around this this afternoon, for something to be "dangerous" there has to be evidence it is so or, there is a proven propensity for it to be so. If the video is harmful or dangerous, then the publisher (not YT) would be negligent? More low hanging fruit anyone?

Thinks: Is this purge affecting XRP, Ethereum, Tether, Dash and BitcoinCash content? Because as this purge has impacted the Bitcoin price, has anyone been trading BTC over the holiday period?

@EEVBlog: Don't mess with the middle, reach for the top. Why not Tweet Alphabet's board members for an answer? Alphabet has, "... a timeless mission, enduring values, and a culture of collaboration...". https://blog.google/inside-google/alphabet/letter-from-larry-and-sergey

[Bud]

That happened right after Larry/Sergey left their CEO roles at Alphabet, didn't it.

[daqq]

All in all, youtube is going down the shitter.

Power corrupts and you want the institutions of science and journalism to have power; it seems your wish had been granted, in full.

Current day journalism and news are sadly lacking in scientific reporting. Unfortunately, science is simply difficult to make entertaining for the masses, as such there's little profit to be had. On the other hand, pseudoscientific bullshit, regurgitation of marketing statements from scammy 'companies', crap like horoscopes and similar is at an all time high.

When serious research is done and published, unless it's an absolutely revolutionary groundbreaking thing, it doesn't get much, if any, screen time. When some nutjob claims to have invented the perpetual motion machine, there's a TV crew with a scientifically illiterate moron at the helm.

[Syntax Error]

That happened right after Larry/Sergey left their CEO roles at Alphabet, didn't it.

What an interesting conicidence... I'm sure taking charge of tricky situations is somewhere in the small print of Sundar Pichai's golden directorship deal. Either way, he should have YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki on speed dial - or Alexa does.
Inside the head of the YouTube Head: "YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki | Full interview | Code 2019"

[ difficult audience question at 33m30s ]

[Kilrah]

The AI is just going on wild streaks regularly, and YT relies so much on it they probably don't have the staffing to check what it's doing and detect/fix its mess in a timely manner anymore.
A couple of months ago it did the same to robot combat channels, suddently deciding it was "animal cruelty".
Believe it got fixed after a couple of weeks.

Then there was that livestream where the host ran some kind of contest or something and having people vote with emojis, and with the lot of them the AI decided it was spam and banned everyone, even locking them out of their Google accounts...

[MT]

There is no real AI only algorithms and data sets it manipulates to look as if it was AI.

 

[magic]

Power corrupts and you want the institutions of science and journalism to have power; it seems your wish had been granted, in full.

Which institutes of science and journalism have power nowadays? Journalism has been declining for decades and science never had much to say to begin with.

Journalism and TV did have a lot of influence. They were the ones to tell everyone who is the good guys and who is the bad guys, after the Church went out of vogue. I mean, just look at one of the largest American newspaper's website with their big banner saying "democracy dies in darkness". Do they look to you like people who report impartially about events or like influencers? What do you think they think about themselves and their job? And it's hardly an isolated incident; IME many journalists have similar attitude.

There is no denying that journalists tend to be biased towards certain political options and so are many or possibly even most in the academia. In fact, the ability to influence masses was what brought some of them to journalism and education in the first place. At the same time, many people don't like many things about modern society and all those "elites" simply have no answer to such people so the idiots among them do what idiots do best and come up with idiotic theories. No amount of "journalists" and "scientists" will convince them to change their mind because neither side cares to give up certain positions.

I say that this is a consequence of wanting science, journalism and educated population to replace government. And it kinda is; the moment you have people whose job is telling the masses what's true and false, that moment you are going to have power freaks trying to get those jobs. You can imagine that these days I am quite cynical about the whole concept.

[blacksheeplogic]

You can imagine that these days I am quite cynical about the whole concept.

There's the argument that was put forward some posts above that their has to be some restraint with he example given 'Vaccines' and the harm created by the anti-vac's. However, the problem is who decides, it was for a time the church, then the government, and now it's the likes of Google & Facebook.

There's really no way to oppose this because of the high entry barrier to create the infrastructure and build a viable alternative is almost insurmountable. I don't particularly favor government control either but I feel we are getting to a point where some intervention is needed to break up these giants in a manner similar to what the US did with AT&T. For example should the carriers be the service providers?

Don't really know what the right answer is but there's too much control in too few with little accountability. My 2c.

[wilfred]

How YouTube goes about striking content is up for debate, in what can seem an arbitary way, but in defense of YouTube, they are right to target Cryptocurrency channels. Why? The crypto space is a minefield of scammers offering no more than get-poor-quick ponzi schemes. Hence YouTube has a duty of care to the millions of subscribers who use the platform as their principle source of information on crypto-currencies.

Bullshit. There are and have been countless investment channels over the years, crypto is no different.

Crypto most certainly is different. It is unregulated. It needs to be regulated.

[nctnico]

You can imagine that these days I am quite cynical about the whole concept.

There's the argument that was put forward some posts above that their has to be some restraint with he example given 'Vaccines' and the harm created by the anti-vac's. However, the problem is who decides, it was for a time the church, then the government, and now it's the likes of Google & Facebook.

Don't really know what the right answer is but there's too much control in too few with little accountability. My 2c.

In the end a balanced democracy (where there isn't a concentration of power in one person) should be the answer. But this will only work if the voters are educated well enough not to fall for BS stories. That is a though call but in the end the responsibility is with the people.

[Halcyon]

After watching some more videos overnight, including Louis Rossmann's latest, I've decided to make a positive move away from Youtube. As consumers, we largely dictate the market. There is no point in banging on about alternatives if no one uses them... so I'm starting now.

I have downloaded both the LBRY and Vimeo applications on to my phone (which is what I use for most of my viewing) and whilst both aren't quite as polished as YouTube, they offer numerous advantages. Firstly, you don't need to sign up for an account to view any of the content, you can just skip that stage. Secondly, no advertising! I can even follow my favourite channels on LBRY without an account or signing in to anything.

For those content creators that I follow and use these other platforms, I will exclusively only watch them using either LBRY or Vimeo from now on.

If after almost 30 years of using Microsoft Windows, I can completely ditch it in favour of Linux, I'm sure I can do this too.