YouTube demonetization is frustrating, especially when it seems to be happening unfairly. Just ask Blaire White, Ready to Glare, or Stef Sanjati. This appeared to be Nasim Aghdam's motive in the YouTube shooting, who claimed she was censored by the popular video-sharing platform. In addition to being demonetized, some of her videos were (unfairly) age restricted or blacklisted to prevent them from getting viewed.
Social media demonetization is frustrating, especially if it appears to favor certain viewpoints and content types over others, which is why I turned to Steemit as a platform in the first place. I was paranoid about being demonetized by YouTube and it wasn't likely that my content would have been eligible for monetization anyway. Some content creators appeal demonetization and age-restriction (which has varying degrees of success) and others go to different platforms such as Steemit, Dtube, and Leeroy.io. I thought this was fake news, but I was wrong. This is 2018 after all.
Aghdam wrote on her website:"Be aware! Dictatorship exists in all countries but with different tactics! They only care for personal and short-term profits and do anything to reach their goals even by fooling simple-minded people, hiding the truth, manipulating science and everything, putting public mental and physical health at risk, abusing non-human animals, polluting the environment, destroying family values, promoting materialism and sexual degeneration in the name of freedom and turning people into programmed robots!" She goes on to quote Adolf Hitler saying, "Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it and eventually they will believe it."
Is there truth to her statement? Yes. Does it justify the YouTube shooting? No. Aghdam was a vegan bodybuilder with a passion for animal rights. I wonder why she got demonetized, especially if it didn't happen to Vegan Losses or Onion Boy. Her rant is akin to the furthest outskirts of the "Liberals REEEEE" community. This event shows that mass shootings are not limited to the white (or Asian) guy who has a beef with the social structure of his school or workplace.
Laura Loomer, a right-wing activist, accused Aghdam of being a jihadi while using her presence as a vegan bodybuilder as a cover for her actions. There is little to no evidence of the YouTube shooting being terror-motivated let alone related to Islamic terrorism. If anything, Aghdam wanted to start a "crusade" against YouTube demonetization and censorship. Why did she use a gun and not start a petition, go to Dtube, make merch, or set up a Patreon? I don't know. But we do know that demonetization may have had a hand in driving her to violence.
What exactly is monetizable? To start, a channel needs at least 4,000 watch hours in the previous 12 months and 1000 subscribers. These videos need to follow Partner Program Policies as well as the community guidelines. However, newer guidelines prohibit the monetization of videos with "controversial" content such as war, natural disaster, and political conflict. (Wow. "Political conflict." That's not vague at all.) YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki was upset about the new monetization policies as seen here. With Wojcicki's help, I'm sure new monetization policies that promote free expression will be put in place in time. In the meantime, don't plan on using YouTube for a steady stream of income if your channel covers anything controversial.
Sources and Photos:
http://abc7news.com/sources-youtube-shooter-identified-as-user-nasim-aghdam/3298575/
https://twitter.com/eazyonme/status/981391523534311424
- eazyonme
https://www.youtube.com/account_monetization
http://msblairewhite.com/the-end-of-youtube/