Gambling channels are latest victims of YouTube's 'moderation process'

[The Buzz]

Scary news here from YouTube, which, in January, made sweeping, sudden changes to the qualifications it used to judge whether channels were eligible to earn money on the platform, according to The Atlantic.

Thousands of small channels lost their ability to generate money on YouTube overnight and had no way to appeal and it appears the latest victims have been gambling channels, including the popular BrianChristopherSlots, which has racked up 50 million views and 80,000 subscribers.

From The Atlantic:

Christopher and other top creators are in a precarious position: Though their videos provide a steady stream of income to YouTube via advertising, they don’t work for YouTube directly, and the company has a long history of deleting channels, demonetizing videos or accounts without warning, and leaving creators with little to no recourse or explanation.

For the vast majority of YouTube creators who aren’t members of YouTube’s top 3 percent, there’s almost no direct line of communication to the company: Creators get automated emails saying their channels are penalized. When they try to reach out to YouTube, rather than get a person, they get more automated responses. While some encourage their fans to tweet at YouTube’s various Twitter handles, that usually proves fruitless, too.

The YouTube gambling community isn’t massive, but its biggest channels have tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of loyal and active fans, which allows them to broker brand deals with big-time casinos, gambling-machine manufacturers, and online gambling sites in Europe. After his channel was taken down, Christopher spent days trying to renegotiate deals he had made with casinos throughout his tour.

“YouTube doing this stuff absolutely jeopardizes my business relationships,” Christopher said. “I’m in contact with the casinos I was supposed to visit, I’m trying to put them at ease and continue on Facebook. I know I haven’t lost my brand ... but it’s tough.”

Read more here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...rocess/562157/

[Scampi]

Brian's channel came back on appeal, but several Russian streamers and British streamers have had their channels shut down, or the ability to stream from casinos blocked.

[Cash Bonus]

Absolutely unbelievable news. Gambling has been around for quite some time though and they're only doing this now.

[JoeHarris]

Good to hear that BrianChristopherSlots managed to remain on youtube