“Fought” meaning discussed politics and disagreed with the nonsense they were indoctrinated to believe. The man admits he never thought about doing anything violent and wasn’t even a hateful person, but he was the new poster boy denouncing right-wing YouTubers and the “algorithm.”
Other outlets immediately added more fuel to the fire and he was interviewed on CNN where he once again blamed “the algorithm” for “radicalizing” him.844 He said the conservative YouTubers he used to watch warned of Cultural Marxists who “were trying to destroy Western civilization and install some sort of socialist regime.”845 That’s exactly what they’re doing of course, but now if you just mention that, you’re considered a right-wing extremist and at risk of having your entire channel demonetized or even deleted.
When the White House announced the Social Media Summit and invited dozens of the top conservative social media personalities to meet with President Trump to discuss the issues of censorship and liberal bias, the media freaked out saying that the attendees (which included me, as you probably know) were “trolls,” “conspiracy theorists,” and “extremists.”846
President Trump addressed us by saying, “So this is a historic day. Never before have so many online journalists and influencers, and that is exactly what you are, you are journalists and you are influencers, come together in this building to discuss the future of social media… Each of you is fulfilling a vital role in our nation. You are challenging the media gatekeepers and the corporate censors to bring the facts straight to the American people… Together you reach more people than any television broadcast network by far.”847
I knew once word got out that I was invited to the White House I would have a huge target on my back and just a few days later over 200 of my YouTube videos were demonetized, with about 100 of them manually reviewed by the moderators and deemed “non-advertiser friendly” despite not just being fully monetized for days, months, (and some for years) but many of them had been manually reviewed previously and approved for monetization.
YouTube moved the goal post again, and may be looking for a reason to demonetize my whole channel by deeming a “significant portion” of my content “non-advertiser friendly” like they had done to dozens of other channels a month earlier. Many of the videos were of me making fun of CNN hosts, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Beto O’Rourke, and other members of Congress. Apparently it’s okay for Stephen Colbert to do political comedy, but not a conservative YouTuber.
In January 2017 YouTube introduced what they call Super Chats, which is a creative way for a viewer to get their question answered by their favorite YouTuber while they’re doing a livestream by tipping them a few bucks. Basically, viewers can choose a dollar amount anywhere from $5 to $500, and their question or comment will be highlighted in color and pinned up at the top of the chat box in order to catch the streamer’s attention since comments in the chat can scroll by the screen so fast they’re impossible to read.
In May 2018 BuzzFeed targeted Super Chats, claiming they were fueling racism and began pushing for them to be disabled because someone spent $100 on a Super Chat to post a message that said “WHITE PRIDE WORLD WIDE!” during someone’s livestream.848 A few months later the Wall Street Journal (which is responsible for setting off the first Adpocalypse in April 2017) also started complaining about people making money from Super Chats in a report titled, “Hate Speech on Live ‘Super Chats’ Tests YouTube.”849
Just a few days later, KillStream, which was a free speech variety show that included debates about various issues, was completely banned from YouTube since the Wall Street Journal pointed out some of the viewers had been posting racist messages in their Super Chats.850 A channel has no control over what viewers put in the comments or Super Chats, but now the media was blaming YouTubers themselves for what their fans (or trolls) were saying.
The Liberal Media Industrial Complex is targeting Super Chats because even fairly small channels can earn a significant amount of revenue from them, since fans tossing in $5 and $10 can add up pretty fast, whereas in order to earn the same amount of money from video views alone as they can make in a livestream could take hundreds of thousands or millions of views.
Because of the growing demonetization issues those of us on the politics and news side of YouTube have had to move to a more fan-funded business model instead of relying on monetized views. I now rely heavily on fans buying my books, shirts, and supporting me through Patreon and PayPal. By removing the financial incentives for people to make quality videos it was just another way for YouTube to discourage us from spending our time and energy producing news commentary and covering current events and has killed the dreams of one day becoming a full-time YouTuber for many.
BuzzFeed reported, “The result of the YouTube crackdown is that prominent right-wing YouTubers are scrambling to find alternatives, setting up shop on YouTube wannabes, or even building their own video apps. It’s all in preparation for what they see as the inevitable day when YouTube gives them the boot or forbids them from making money on the platform by demonetizing all of their videos.”851
MCNs Dropping Channels
Many YouTubers join what are called Multi-Channel Networks, or MCNs, which are companies that take a percentage of their revenue in exchange for offering consultations on how to improve the performance of videos, grow their audience, and even give them access to “brand deals” or sponsorships like talk radio shows have when the hosts plug various products and services.
So even if YouTube’s automated system demonetizes a lot of videos, MCNs can get the channel some sponsors who are okay with their product being promoted there, and that way the YouTuber can still earn a living. But since being a member of an MCN can be a way around demonetization, YouTube decided to order MCNs to drop certain channels, and they had to, because they’re under contract with YouTube, and if they didn’t then YouTube wouldn’t do business with the MCN at all.852
So first it was just certain videos getting demonetized, then entire channels (including the loss of Super Chats), and then YouTube went even further forcing MCNs to drop certain people so they couldn’t acquire sponsorships for their videos.
One person who got kicked out of his network got an email reading, “The team here at Fullscreen is reaching out to let you know that your agreement with Fullscreen, Inc. has been terminated. Due to the nature of your uploads and because your uploads may potentially infringe on the rights of others or potentially violates applicable laws or regulations, including without limitation YouTube’s Terms of Service and/or YouTube’s Community Guidelines, we feel it is best that we part ways. Thank you for your understanding, and good luck with your YouTube channel.”853
A friend of mine, Luke Rudkowski, who runs the “We Are Change” YouTube channel was kicked out of his MCN, and when applying to others he was told that he would have to delete several of his videos they deemed inappropriate before they would accept him. The videos in question had been automatically demonetized, but didn’t violate YouTube’s terms of service so they were not deleted. Various MCNs thought they were problematic, however, and could get them in trouble with YouTube for including Luke’s channel in their network because he had posted certain content about various wars, military actions, and social unrest in parts of the world.