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On Christmas Eve, under the cover of the holiday downtime YouTube started to suddenly mass delete cryptocy videos without giving those in the community any advance warning. As we previously reported, many top YouTubers were caught up in this crypto purge with Ivan on Tech, Chris Dunn, and Chico Crypto being some of the larger channels that were affected.

Since this first report, YouTube’s cryptocy purge has continued with many other large channels having their videos taken down and receiving strikes on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Now YouTube has responded to this mass crypto purge in two separate updates but unfortunately for the cryptocy community, neither of these updates provide much clarity on the situation.

The first update from Team YouTube on Twitter was posted on Christmas Day and simply said: “We’re looking into this. Hope to share an update soon.”

Jumping in – we're looking into this. Hope to share an update soon. — TeamYouTube at 🏠 (@TeamYouTube) December 25, 2019

The second update from a YouTube spokesperson was published in a Decrypt article on Boxing Day and said that the videos were removed “in error” and had been put back online. However, despite the spokesperson’s claims, none of the videos appear to have been restored and many of the YouTubers that were affected have pushed back against the article.

https://twitter.com/ivanontech/status/1210262096572796929

if only it were true i still have a strike i still have over 100 videos deleted by @TeamYouTube and my fellow creators have seen no changes either https://t.co/KXfCadpWnQ — That Martini Guy ₿ (@MartiniGuyYT) December 26, 2019

Cryptocy YouTuber Chris Dunn, who was caught up in the initial purge, has issued an update since YouTube made these statements. He said that one of his strikes was removed and the videos showed as “appeal approved” but very few were actually reinstated. Today he was then slapped with a fresh strike and had even more videos removed.

2/ Today I woke up to another strike on the channel and all prior videos (and some new ones) removed again, but still showing "appeal approved" status. — Chris Dunn (@ChrisDunnTV) December 26, 2019

4/ Still not a peep from @TeamYouTube or any email response from my YouTube Partner rep. — Chris Dunn (@ChrisDunnTV) December 26, 2019

Heidi, the host of the Crypto Tips YouTube channel which was hit in the first wave of this cryptocy purge, also questioned YouTube’s claims that this was a mistake and said: “My appeals have not been addressed so time will tell if this is real.”

Youtube strikes possibly done by mistake?!

My videos are still removed, my appeals have not been addressed so time will tell if this is real.

It's a lot like when a centralized exchange gets hacked. Let this be a wake up call for all of us to pursue decentralized alternatives. pic.twitter.com/eiVCCW2Y7n — Heidi (@blockchainchick) December 26, 2019

For now, the only thing that’s certain is that since the initial reports of a crypto purge on Christmas Eve, more cryptocy videos have been deleted, more channels have received strikes, and many channels have set their videos to private in an attempt to avoid future strikes which could result in permanent channel termination. This means that many of the most popular crypto YouTube channels now have no videos publicly available to viewers.

We have set all our videos to “private” as a pre-caution until we know what’s going on with crypto youtube. This has been the most insane Christmas ever for me, but the support and unity of the crypto community has been amazing 🙏❤️ — Ivan on Tech (@IvanOnTech) December 24, 2019

Nicholas Merten, host of the DataDash YouTube channel which has over 328,000 subscribers, reported on Christmas Day that his channel had been hit with a strike and that he would be setting all the channels videos to private to avoid “another unjustified strike.”

One the day before Christmas, @TeamYouTube gave to me…another content strike with no uploads for a week. I’ve made all my videos private to avoid another unjustified strike. I’ve used this platform since 2007, and it’s sad to think this is the norm on YouTube nowadays. — Nicholas Merten (@Nicholas_Merten) December 25, 2019

Merten added that he’s been using YouTube since 2007 and that his video that was uploaded months ago was hit with a “harmful content” violation.

“Harmful content” on a video that in no way broke community guidelines and was upload months back. It was certainly coordinated by a group of some sort. — Nicholas Merten (@Nicholas_Merten) December 25, 2019

Altcoin Buzz, another popular crypto YouTube channel with 208,000 subscribers said that it also received a strike for “harmful and dangerous” content.

Our youtube channel has a strike for harmful and dangerous content. So no videos next few days. 🤷‍♂️ — Altcoin Buzz (@Altcoinbuzzio) December 24, 2019

Boxmining said that it had multiple videos removed by YouTube and was also hit with a strike.

So apparently I got a content strike over a video about Crypto Censorship in South Korea. Appealing the Ban now. This whole incident really shows YouTube has no idea what they are doing and is just censoring free speech and news coverage. pic.twitter.com/NLXoRGpGLa — Boxmining (@boxmining) December 24, 2019

.@YouTube Censorship Day #2 – More videos taken down and 1 strike on my channel. Apparently live streaming crypto events and warning people about market manipulation is "harmful and dangerous content" Ridiculous pic.twitter.com/11sY9vrLQS — Boxmining (@boxmining) December 25, 2019

For me, Youtube has chosen to target ALL my videos from Jan 2018 today – regardless of topic covered. Likely they chose to censor crypto words in their algorithm. pic.twitter.com/br826RJwrN — Boxmining (@boxmining) December 25, 2019

Due to the .@YouTube censorship of crypto content, I've put all my videos as "private" for the time being. I'm forced to do this because if the Youtube algorithm tags more public videos, it'll mean the deletion of my channel. pic.twitter.com/TAbX8OPfEO — Boxmining (@boxmining) December 25, 2019

The channel has over 196,000 subscribers and has now set all its videos to private as a precautionary measure.

Due to the .@YouTube censorship of crypto content, I've put all my videos as "private" for the time being. I'm forced to do this because if the Youtube algorithm tags more public videos, it'll mean the deletion of my channel. pic.twitter.com/TAbX8OPfEO — Boxmining (@boxmining) December 25, 2019

Omar Bham’s YouTube channel Crypt0 with 120,000 subscribers also got caught up in this cryptocy purge with one of his videos being removed.

The purge has officially reached my channel, as well. pic.twitter.com/FKZY7T5g3E — Omar Bham (Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrypt0) (@crypt0snews) December 24, 2019

Yet another YouTube channel to have some cryptocy videos removed was sunny decree – a channel with over 112k subscribers.

Update: Another wave of reports hit me today, we are on one strike now too…. 2 more days and then we're banned most probably… — sunnydecree (@sunnydecree) December 25, 2019

The Crypto Lark sarcastically described how it got a “nice Christmas present from YouTube” with 37 videos being removed and its channel with more than 104,000 subscribers being hit with a strike.

Nice Christmas present from Youtube, 37 videos pulled and a strike. Ouch. #bitcoin #crypto #censorship — The Crypto Lark (@TheCryptoLark) December 24, 2019

The Ready Set Crypto channel with more than 98,000 subscribers said it had videos which it had “put tons of work into” erased by YouTube as part of this purge.

Nice Christmas present from Youtube, 37 videos pulled and a strike. Ouch. #bitcoin #crypto #censorship — The Crypto Lark (@TheCryptoLark) December 24, 2019

The host of Crypto Zombie (94,000+ subscribers) also described how he had been hit with a warning in one of his recent YouTube videos.

Another YouTube channel to be reportedly hit with a strike during this cryptocy purge is Crypto Beadle which has more than 89,000 subscribers.

Hey peeps!@YouTube @YTCreators

has shut us down for a while. Guess free content and never taking a penny for any content is bad? We’ll post on my Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram going forward all accounts are under Robert Beadles there. God Bless #censorship #youtube #bitcoin — CryptoBeadles (@RobertBeadles) December 24, 2019

“The YouTube purge has now reached my channel!” said The Moon – a cryptocy channel with over 81,000 subscribers. It received a warning for a video that was uploaded in January 2019.

The YouTube purge has now reached my channel! One video from 27th of January 2019 "broke the rules" because it was "Harmful and dangerous content". Sure, #Bitcoin is harmful and dangerous for the banks, but this is just ridiculous. RETWEET for awareness!#Censorship #YouTube pic.twitter.com/GscSbe1WHN — The Moon (@TheMoonCarl) December 25, 2019

The Moon added that its videos were “still gone” and it still has a warning on the channel, despite YouTube saying removing these cryptocy videos was a mistake and that they had been restored.

BIG NEWS: First reports about YouTubers getting their YouTube-ban lifted, or strikes retracted, came in just NOW! This does not seem to be true for many, but this is a good sign! However, my video that got censored is still gone and my warning or penalty is still there. — The Moon (@TheMoonCarl) December 26, 2019

Pro Blockchain, a channel with more than 72,000 subscribers, was also hit with a strike.

One of the hardest-hit channels in this cryptocy purge was Nugget’s News which has over 64,000 subscribers. CEO and founder Alex Saunders said over 100 videos were removed from the channel, many of which weren’t even about crypto.

50 of my videos just got removed for being harmful or dangerous content. Most of these weren't even crypto videos. Tutorials, explainers, educational videos, Australian housing market updates, economics & negative interest rates. What a way to spend #Xmas. Absolutely gutted 😢 pic.twitter.com/SrGHaLW5na — Alex Saunders 🇦🇺👨‍🔬 (@AlexSaundersAU) December 24, 2019

Hi @TeamYouTube with over 100 videos removed & 2 strikes in 24 hours I have still not even received an email from you. This is really scary. We've hired new staff. I have a wife & baby to support. I can't fix the problem if I don't know what I've done or who to communicate with!? — Alex Saunders 🇦🇺👨‍🔬 (@AlexSaundersAU) December 26, 2019

Saunders added that the channel was also given two strikes by YouTube and that like many of the other YouTube channels in the space, he’s setting all of Nugget’s News cryptocy videos to private while he attempts to resolve the situation.

Update: Just got a 2nd strike in one day on Xmas without even doing anything! Man I hope @TeamYouTube are looking into this before we all get 3 strikes over the holidays! — Alex Saunders 🇦🇺👨‍🔬 (@AlexSaundersAU) December 25, 2019

In light of YouTube's action towards Crypto channels (including ours), we’ve temporarily set our channel to private whilst we work on resolving the matter with them. We hope to be up & running in a few days. We'll provide an update once we learn more. Cheers for the support! — Nugget's News (@NuggetsNewsAU) December 26, 2019

Jacob Canfield, a Bitcoin analyst and guest trader on Forbes and CNBC, suggested that he has also received a strike and has been temporarily prevented from uploading to his YouTube channel with over 60,000 subscribers.

https://twitter.com/ivanontech/status/1209850220357533696

And even channels that stopped creating cryptocy content don’t appear to have been spared during this purge. Asger Folmann, the host of YouTube channel Meta Quest, announced that he was “leaving crypto” weeks ago but said that he “woke up to an unwanted Christmas gift in the shape of a strike on YouTube.”

Woke up to an unwanted Christmas gift in the shape of a strike on YouTube. And I even stopped creating crypto content… Joining the ranks of @sunnydecree @IvanOnTech @ChicoCrypto @ChrisDunnTV

@AltcoinDailyio @alessiorastani @BTCsessions @blockchainchick — Meta Quest (@Asger_Folmann) December 24, 2019

The current uncertainty surrounding the cryptocy community on YouTube is reflective of many other communities on the platform.

Kendall Rae, one of the biggest true crime YouTubers, recently had one of her videos removed under YouTube’s harmful and dangerous policy. After her appeal to have the video reinstated was rejected, it left many fearing that true crime content is now at risk on YouTube.

YouTube’s purge of comedy videos, political commentary videos, and videos that criticize other YouTubers under its updated harassment policy suggests that these genres are also no longer viable on YouTube.

Update – December 26, 2019: Omar Bham (Crypt0) has had his warning repealed and his video restored.

Update – December 31, 2019: YouTube has now restored most of the crypto videos that were taken down.

If you're tired of cancel culture and censorship subscribe to Reclaim The Net.