YouTube, and their parent company Google, seem strangely quiet on the subject
When YouTube first launched it was a ground-breaking platform that put the power in the hands of the people. Suddenly, the world opened up and anyone with a camcorder could put their creative efforts online for people to see which lead to the rise of independent film-making on a scale previously unheard of. From cute kittens to catastrophic events in the kitchen and from street magic to new music, it seemed like there was unlimited potential for us to be entertained by the incredible, the unexpected, the weird and the mundane and it didn’t take long for YouTube to become the number one method of sharing and viewing videos around the world. Normal everyday people found themselves becoming overnight stars and the idea of using YouTube as a valid career choice rapidly became high on the list of options for the up-n-coming generation, however, this soon lead to shift in the dynamics of the platform as traditional companies wanted to make money from its rising popularity.
Advertising and other ways of generating revenue streams became the main focal point of the platform’s owners. It’s no surprise that the dollar signs began to spin in the eyes of fat cats when they saw videos reaching billions of independent views, so it was no great revelation when YouTube started to slowly increase the frequency at which ads would play (starting at roughly every tenth video and then reducing to every fifth before becoming after almost every video along with ad-breaks in the midst of slightly longer clips). While many may argue that this is the only way for the platform to keep operating, others have criticized the fact that the producers and uploaders only receive a minute fraction of the profits despite the fact that it is their content that people come to watch. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence to suggest that the average age of a viewer is decreasing year-on-year, which means that young children are being shown adverts which have no relevance to them.
Initially, many people found the draw of YouTube to be the idea that content was not censored or filtered to any great extent and this allowed more creative freedom. While this meant that there was always the chance that people were able to upload content which may be deemed unsuitable for certain audiences (or anyone in some cases) the platform used active reporting and the comments/feedback sections to monitor and intervene where it was felt necessary. Unfortunately, due to the very nature of having relatively unlimited access from across the globe, some users took the opportunity to upload videos containing activities linked to gang violence, sexual abuse and terror offences and this meant that YouTube had to take additional steps to protect the user. Parental controls, filters and direct reporting buttons were added to videos to assist users in controlling what they saw, but many people felt that YouTube themselves should be doing more.
In recent months, following the continued issues surrounding mass shootings in the US, YouTube suddenly announced that they would be blocking and removing all content relating to guns and shooting. This was applauded by many, while others felt that it was too much of a knee-jerk reaction to current events. Numerous voices came out to voice their opinion on both sides of the argument, but it was difficult to come to a consensus on whether this intervention was a step too far. YouTube had never had an issue before and had been happy to receive money from advertisers, so people wondered if there was more to the change of heart than was being shown publically. The NRA and pro-gun activists launched scathing attacks on YouTube leading to an instance involving one particular YouTube star, who had lost their main source of income following the move, heading to the YouTube offices with loaded weapons and opening fire on staff (hardly the best way to prove a point, especially in this situation).
For many people, YouTube has become their means of income and people have given up their previous careers to cash-in on the commercial aspect of vlogging and creating content. The weed industry is no exception and some well-known members of the community have found the platform to be an invaluable way of making money whilst also enabling them to communicate their ideas more directly with their fans. Also, some individuals have risen from relative obscurity and found fame through their online exploits just by using the YouTube platform and the nature of growing, cropping and consuming certainly presents itself as a particularly visual medium. With the shifting dynamics of decriminalization and medicinal use around the world, many have come to view an online presence as an essential component for fighting prohibition and disseminating information more widely. In the past few months however, things have suddenly turned sour.
A number of weed-based channels, including Weed World, began receiving ‘strikes’ on their videos and were sent messages explaining that their content had been flagged for ‘violating user guidelines’. Once a channel receives three of these strikes they can be blocked from posting and have the account shut-down without further warning (a move which often leads to the loss of uploaded videos and immediately ends any type of revenue stream the channel had created). What makes the current situation even more baffling if that a number of channels, including Weed World’s, had only one strike before they got shut down.
Having reached out to YouTube for clarification of the exact nature of their perceived offences, many users were left stumped when they received nothing more than generic automated responses to their pleas for an explanation. In the case of Weed World’s account, the email sent explaining what had happened re-iterated that a channel would be shut down after three strikes, but they only received one. YouTube, and their parent company Google, seem strangely quiet on the subject, but all assumptions lead towards this being a systematic cleansing of the platform which is likely to be linked to upcoming change in legislation from the governing bodies. Not too long ago, YouTube announced that all content linking to guns and conspiracy theories would no longer be allowed and recent exploits from certain YouTubers have raised questions over the company’s ability to actively and effectively police the content which is available to view. Furthermore, and perhaps most significantly, a number of high-profile companies have issued an ultimatum indicating that they would stop advertising altogether if YouTube did not prevent their products from being promoted on videos which were deemed unsuitable for their corporate image. Unsurprisingly, the power of the almighty dollar is often the straw that breaks the camel’s back and this case looks likely to be no exception to the rule.
While I appreciate that I probably don’t fully understand the complexities of the technical side of this issue, surely there is some way of allowing content to be more actively filtered? Could YouTube not set everyone’s accounts to be fully filtered and then force users to select the types of content they wish to see? Are user accounts not limited by the age of the user? Why can’t they tailor their advertising to fit on videos which are deemed as suitable? Is it not reasonable to assume that there is a way for them to issue strikes and warnings with more opportunity for channels to change instead of wholesale shutdowns? Without hearing anything official, it worries me that this could be a sign of what is to come and our ever-increasing reliance on social media and online platforms could leave us open to manipulation if the all-powerful companies wave their magic chequebook and demand that we be saved from ourselves. The whole purpose of open platforms is that we can choose what we consume; If you search for a film trailer and end up seeing animal cruelty then there is a problem which needs to be dealt with, but this should be more of a case of coding and tweaks than blanket bans.
In light of this, people are looking at ways of getting their channels back in the limelight. For the weed community, the shining light in the darkness comes in the form of TheWeedTube.com and their positive approach to spreading the word about cannabis and cannabis culture. The developers understand that the majority of official channels are promoting activities which are legal in their locale and that many videos are educational as opposed to simply glorifying cannabis usage, so they are keen to support the industry in their time of need. With over a million followers on previous platforms, including CustomGrow420, Strain Central, Leafly and a number of content creators with over 100k subscribers each, channels such as TheDabSpot, Indoor Tokers and Deevaology and many more have moved to the new site after getting shut down on YouTube after only one strike. Although in its fledgling stage, this new platform has found a huge number of previous YouTube creators have begun moving their content across and the main objective at this time is to crowdfund in the hope of improving the overall standard of the user experience through dedicated smartphone apps. It makes sense for the cannabis industry to go back to the guerrilla-style, grass-roots approach to communication and education…it just seems like a shame that this is the reality of 2018.
At the time of writing, Facebook seems to be following suit and has begun to close down pages which have never faced issues before. After a post which was deemed to be an illegal advertisement for a bong, the Weed World Magazine page was unpublished and restricted by Facebook due to ‘violations of Facebook’s terms’. What makes it even more disheartening is that some of those who have had accounts closed down have found that they are unable to open a new account. This reeks of censorship on a massive scale and you have to ask how far these companies are likely to go as time goes on; perhaps this is a stark warning to us all that an increasing dependence on technology within our lives is a source of control that only leaves us open to manipulation. It will be interesting to see what the coming months bring in terms of the future of YouTube (and other platforms) and whether or not they finally decide to explain their actions or provide the opportunities for revised content to be posted, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Originally published in Weed World Magazine Issue 135
Since the article and after a lot of writing to Facebook we have been allowed our page back. We still however, have a permanent ban with YouTube, so now we have our own channel Weed World TV
