Big Brother 2.0 YouTube Cuts advertisement revenue for Alternative News, Starving out the Truth tellers!
Do you have or someone you know own an alternative news channel on YouTube.com ? Because if you use google ads, you will no longer be able to earn any money via your alternative media accounts or alt-health or science accounts either. Why? Because Alphabet has purchased YouTube and it has now officially transitioned to the dark side. There is no longer a 1st amendment online, and there is no guarantee of FREE speech on Google or on YouTube. Not anymore anyway…
With multiple incidents of comments disappearing as well as documented removals of activists video’s without notice, we have known for years that trusting Google, YouTube, or Facebook with the livelihood of your material can prove to be disastrous for those within the alternative news media community. Since its arrival in 2005 many investigative journalist and activist have reported problems with YouTube’s partnership policies, the policies that are meant to help compensate popular YouTube channel owners for the revenue that they help create. According to Alexa Internet, Inc. a California-based company that provides commercial web traffic data and analytic information, YouTube has and continues to censor material in many countries throughout the world. Of course censorship can be expected in countries like Pakistan, China, and North Korea, but in the United States “sensitive” material can also be censored either directly as in the case of 2010 where videos of the religious sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki were removed following requests by US Congressman Anthony Wiener and several others, who claimed the sermons were hate speech and that they promoted murder and jihad. In more subvert means YouTube has found an ever-increasing repertoire of methods when it comes to removing user-created content. Historically YouTube has demonstrated a twisted sense of standards when it comes to its appropriate content policies where teaching someone how to buy a plant on the dark web is considered more vulgar than a group of marines urinating on dead bodies in Iraq. With the inconstancy of rational from Google’s gate keepers, what we find is that most often the videos which are flagged and removed from Ad-Sense are the ones which have an anti-war and anti-western establishment slant.
Over the last few years we have seen an increasing number of alternative media producers have their YouTube channels flagged, suspended, demonetized or in rare cases even removed entirely. According to a revealing blog published by iWired.com
In a recent video released from director, activist, and content creator, Storm clouds Gathering, in which he brings to the public’s attention that Google, now a sub agency under Alphabet inc. a conglomerate that will directly own several companies that were owned by or tied to Google, including Google itself. Google has recently updated its Ad-sense content policy, where previously, videos on YouTube that were banned from advertising included sexually suggestive content, violence, inappropriate language, and promotion of drugs. However the new policy amendment has now added to that list videos that discuss “controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown.” The page that outlines YouTube’s policies regarding content deemed appropriate for advertising can be found here.
Popular YouTube channel which has more than 465,000 subscribers has been severely affected by the new policy amendment, according to the channel’s owner. In his recent video “StormCloudsGathering Is Under attack Major Changes Coming” , (see Below) the channel’s owner – who goes only by the name Aaron – discusses the effect this new policy has had on his lifestyle, particularly the fact that it has caused him to now “live under the poverty line.” According to Aaron, his contact within Google confirmed that the advertising has been pulled because of the subject matter of his videos. In an email letter from YouTube to Aaron, he was advised to “no longer make videos about war but to create more advertising friendly content.” (RIP 1st Amendment)
Being the person I am I immediately used paypal to show my support. *receipt on Facebook page, not because I want popularity or for self-glorification or likes on the site, but because a caring hard-working anti-war activist and fellow truther, father of two young children, has rung the alarm bells within the entire alternative news media community. Many rely on advertising as a primary source of income, and if the Powers that be are going to try to starve the community of its primary source of income than now is the time we need to stand together, we cannot be divided by egos, or brand names, now is the time for us as a whole section of the society to establish our voice.
In his video, Aaron claims that, around 2013, “I started having videos demonetized with no explanation; these videos are always the ones that challenged the official narrative on highly charged topics; videos that talked about what the US government was doing in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine; videos that embarrassed politicians and corporations; videos that exposed US government involvement in terrorist activities.” In addition, Aaron asserts that “on these take-downs, there was no notification, no reason given, and no way to appeal.” Aaron also states that, whilst initially these take-downs occurred one video at a time, in 2015 “something changed. Suddenly, 56 of our videos, dating all the way back to 2013, were instantly demonetized. This included almost all of our most successful videos, some of them with nearly 3 million views.” Within the video, Aaron surmises that whether YouTube decides to demonize certain videos is dependent on the political topic they address. Specifically, he claims that “there are certain things that somebody doesn’t want me to talk about. This message has been sent in numerous ways.”
“IF YOU TALK ABOUT ISRAEL, YOU’RE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME. IF YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT THE US AND THEIR ALLIES ARE UP TO IN SYRIA, YOU’RE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME. IF YOU PRESENT EVIDENCE OF WAR CRIMES AND [YOU] NAME NAMES, YOU’RE GONNA HAVE A BAD TIME”. HE THEN POIGNANTLY ADDS THAT “TROUBLE IS, I FEEL MORALLY OBLIGATED TO ADDRESS THESE ISSUES, EVEN IT MEANS WORKING FOR 1 MONTH, OR 2, OR 3, AND OFTEN IT HAS.” STORMCLOUDSGATHERING
YouTube has since issued an official response: “While we don’t comment on individual channels or videos, we have stringent advertising guidelines, and we may choose to stop placing ads against any video if we receive advertiser complaints or determine that the content of the video is not appropriate for our advertising partners. Support Alternative media. See the full Video Below…
✌&❤&✊ Full Video Below…