YouTube appears to be conducting yet another mass demonetization purge on its site with multiple creators reporting that they've suddenly had their monetization turned off. Many of the creators who've been caught up in this purge are also accusing YouTube of withholding their funds and lying about the status of these funds.
Social commentator Mister Metokur, who live streams on YouTube but removed all his uploaded videos in August because he grew tired of “walking a tightrope of what is allowed for humor or politics and what isn't,” had his channel demonetized after a review of the non-existent video uploads on his channel led to it being flagged for “reused content.”
Now @TeamYouTube could you point out exactly which videos this refers to? I'm super curious. pic.twitter.com/h7VLSxvSx2
Apparently that is how Youtube views it. Stranger still having no videos are also considered reused. https://t.co/I3GBIQyKc7
They were all deleted in August. There are no videos. https://t.co/FHWjAQ1E5o
Mister Metokur appealed the decision and YouTube told him that the “reused content” message was a mistake and he'd actually had his monetization removed for “not having enough public content.”
(2/2) "Not enough public content" means your channel has no public videos (or a very small amount) so you're no longer eligible for YPP. This can also happen if your channel is inactive for a while. You can always upload more public videos and reapply to YPP in 30 days.
When pressed for clarification on how much public content creators need to keep their monetization, YouTube refused to share the specifics and instead recommended that creators “just keep uploading original content and building your subs.”
While we can't share the specifics, we'd recommend to just keep uploading original content and building your subs. If our review team don't have sufficient content to review, it's likely that they would held the application for additional review before making the final decision.
Let's play channel Purity Sin was also demonetized for “reused content.” They say the channel contains no reused content and that they has done nothing wrong.
An update they demonitized me and I was completely in the green! Ive lost everything! pic.twitter.com/9PD5xn8jGu
Purity Sin contacted YouTube via chat, phone, Twitter DM, and email and attempted to appeal the decision but was only given vague responses.
Here is the rest of it. I tried but they won't even look at content to see if its true. pic.twitter.com/hQ2pmPel2x
— puritysin (@puritysin) November 5, 2019
Tried calling youtube twice and waited on hold…someone answered and imediately hung up on me.
— puritysin (@puritysin) November 6, 2019
After waiting on hold again with youtube this entire time I got put on hold only to get "were sorry all our representatives have stepped away please contact our online help" bs @teamyoutube
pure bs!— puritysin (@puritysin) November 6, 2019
An update i've been talking to team youtube in dms and low and behold no help either. I have never reused content on my channel Im a let's player. I show off games that are in production and I stream games for my fans. All I want to do is create stuff for people to enjoy… pic.twitter.com/cHtb65CGy4
— puritysin (@puritysin) November 6, 2019
Update! @TeamYouTube email help is absolutely worthless. Youtube refuses to help me at all leaving me dead in the water and taking all my money! Please spread the word all pic.twitter.com/76r4YksyT0
— puritysin (@puritysin) November 6, 2019
After demonetization was removed from these channels, Mister Metokur and other creators accused YouTube of withholding some of the ad revenue and Super Chat revenue that they earned before being demonetized.
Well that and stealing 4 grand since if you are demonetized they don't pay out what you are owed. https://t.co/cO2GTUUn5z
— Mister AntiBully (@MisterAntiBully) November 5, 2019
No, they keep all superchats themselves. https://t.co/u5rcAE6Yg4
— Mister AntiBully (@MisterAntiBully) November 5, 2019
If Youtube isn't paying out earned ad revenue and superchats on demonetized channels it means it's sitting in a bank account somewhere earning interest. I'd love to know the sum total of that too. https://t.co/T8nc4Pz6D8
— Mister AntiBully (@MisterAntiBully) November 5, 2019
The real question is if a company withholds earnings from a contractor, let's it sit in a bank account, and those earnings accrue interest is that company obligated to pay that interest back to the contractor and if not does that speak to a motivation to withhold in the 1st place https://t.co/Dk8Fr2hBg8
— Mister AntiBully (@MisterAntiBully) November 5, 2019
Why did you keep 1200 dollars from me? And 3300 dollars from @ROTCRadio
You can't just NOT pay people money you owe them. You demonetized us months ago, you refuse to remonetize us, and you won't pay us the money you owe us.
This is illegal.
— Mersh (@terrorsperg) November 5, 2019
No @TeamYouTube – That's a blatant lie. We earned that money in the SUMMER! And you refuse to pay it out. https://t.co/HrJxcu5vos
— Mersh (@terrorsperg) November 5, 2019
One Twitter user also posted examples of YouTube's conflicting public and private statements on when and if funds are paid out to demonetized creators.
This statement on Twitter by @TeamYouTube is in direct contrast to the REAL answer they give content creators in private via email. https://t.co/vAm9VCpCkC
— Mersh (@terrorsperg) November 5, 2019
In public, YouTube says “any revenue earned prior to being removed from YPP [YouTube Partner Program] will still be paid out.” However, in an email to cultural and political commentator Sinatra Says, who had his YouTube channel demonetized during the Vox adpocalypse, YouTube said: “All earnings you accrued before your channel was demonitized will still remain and will only be transferred to AdSense again once your re-application for YouTube Partner Program is approved.”
![YouTube's public statement that “any revenue earned prior to being removed from YPP [YouTube Partner Program] will still be paid out.”](https://reclaimthenet.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/youtube-demonetization-witholding-funds-1.jpg)
According to the email, this means when a YouTube creator is demonetized, all the earnings that were accrued between the last payout and the channel being demonetized will be held by YouTube indefinitely and only paid out if the creator is successfully re-approved for monetization.
These reports of YouTube demonetizing more channels and withholding funds comes around the same time that new data showed that YouTube's new rules will cut some creator ad revenue by up to 90% in 2020 – another change that's making it increasingly difficult for creators to earn a living on the platform.
