The recently announced new Youtube Terms of Use, which will take effect on December 10, 2019, are causing resentment and incomprehension in the community. The trigger for this is a new point that allows Youtube users to “terminate access to their account” if “providing the service is uneconomical”. Theoretically, Youtube could close channels in the future that do not bring the company any profit through faded-in advertising. This will be decided as stated in the Terms of Use “at its sole discretion”.
The terms of use do not provide for prior notice to the channel operators before the account is closed. Moreover, the terms of use even provide that linked accounts such as Google Mail can be blocked if an uneconomical Youtube channel is closed.
As Mashable reported, numerous influencers have expressed their horror at the changes, because in the worst case they would lose their main income through the loss of their channel. A statement of Youtube or the holding company alphabet , which also Google belongs to, did not take place so far.
The changes that have now been made underscore the strategy that has been evident since the beginning of 2018, which provides for Youtube to focus more on individual channels with particularly high reach. This is illustrated, for example, by the Youtube Partner Program (YPP), which distributes income only to channels with at least one thousand subscribers. In addition, only channels that have streamed at least 4,000 hours of video in the last twelve months will receive a share of advertising revenue. Before the change to the YPP, only 10,000 video views were required within one year.
