YouTube Demonetizes Collective Evolution’s Entire Channel
By
Joe Martino
Joe Martino
In Brief
- The Facts:On Dec 26th, 2018, YouTube demonetized Collective Evolution's YouTube channel, cutting out yet another funding leg. We are unphased by this, however, we always find a way to keep conscious media thriving!
- Reflect On:Why do big tech firms keeping shutting out independent media? Do we not have the power as the people to choose what stays alive and thrives?
On
December 26th, 2018, we awoke to a message on our YouTube channel
stating “We’ve determined that your channel is no longer eligible for
monetization.”
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I can’t say we were all that surprised,
but regardless it was still a bit of a shock only because we had been
working hard over the last two months to grow our account and keep
consistent with content. We had added over 12,000 new subscribers in
just a short time before this happened.
Our long-term plan was to continue to
build our YouTube account to help spread our message far and wide, and
use some of the revenue to sustain our work alongside our other funding
avenues. It appears that leg of funding is now gone, and we’ll have to
once again pivot which we are no stranger to after Facebook’s yearly
changes have cut our revenue by over $600,000 per year, and our staff as
well.
A screenshot of the message we received from YouTube on Dec 26, 2018.
Why Did This Happen?
We don’t entirely know but we can speculate on a few things.
Let’s start with copyright issues.
CE’s content is original, shot in our
studio and we don’t use any music other than what we have a license to
use from Artlist or Audioblocks.. not only that, our account is in
perfect standing and always has been, so we know it’s not an issue of
copyright. In fact, the image below not only shows our account is still
partner verified, but you can see we have never had any strikes on
guidelines or copyright status.
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Regardless of all of this, which has
been very unclear, YouTube has simply stated on our account “Your
channel does not comply with the YouTube Partner Program terms.” and
therefore “Account status: Currently ineligible for monetization”
Very similar to when Facebook shut down
our Facebook page for 21 days due to false allegations of copyright
violation on OUR OWN original content, YouTube also doesn’t take this
process very seriously and doesn’t allow businesses to get in touch to
find out what’s actually happening. Instead, you suffer financial loss
and are left to figure out what the heck happened. Last time Facebook
shut our page down we lost $35,000 in revenue and it was on the 2nd day
of our IndieGoGo campaign launch, effectively hindering us from gaining
traction on the campaign.
The Content
Our content is very politically neutral
and we back up our facts with sources whenever possible. Compared to
most channels, we simply don’t do anything that would warrant such a
harsh decision.
To be clear, YouTube has no issue with
distasteful content where people are half naked or naked, swearing
consistently, glorifying drug and alcohol use, getting high on camera
and putting on makeup, violence, or anything of that nature. We know
that because those accounts have millions of subscribers and are well
monetized.
But dissenting voices seem to be a thing for YouTube, just as it is for Facebook and Twitter.
So it appears as though YouTube is
attempting to politely say “we simply don’t want you on our platform,
and we’re going to make it really hard for you to live here.”
We know this because not only did they
demonetize our account, but regardless of our 82,000 subscribers, our
videos usually struggle to get more than 1000 views. Further to that, as
part of their demonetization, YouTube has stopped us from being able to
use their End Cards feature, which allows us to show viewers more of
our content or click to support our work. With this move, the motivation
seems to be nothing more than ‘we’re not going to let you do anything
that can help you.’ Below is a screenshot of the End Card cut.
What We Can Do
Big tech companies have made it very
clear, they are going to respond to and allow deep state control to set
their agendas and narratives. Companies who dissent from mainstream
narratives designed to veil the public from truth are going to be
demonetized and shut down as much as possible.
This leaves 2 ways for independent media like CE to continue thriving.
CETV
We knew this was coming one day, which
is why we spent the last year working on CETV. The thing that is
absolutely crazy about YouTube demonetizing us on the 26th was the fact
that we launched CETV on the same day. Pure coincidence? Did they
somehow know? I don’t know! But it’s the second time we geared up for a
huge launch only to have a social media channel be affected same day.
Right now, CETV is available for early
bird pricing and you can get $20 off a yearly membership. CETV is going
to be the home of interviews and shows that explore consciousness and
our world from a neutral and conscious perspective. It’s our next step
in conscious media. You can join CETV right now and take advantage of
the early bird pricing here.
CMM Campaign
We also had been gearing up to keep
independent media alive with our conscious media movement campaign. We
watched as many of our friends lost their entire business when they were
demonetized and shut down, so we started a campaign to fund conscious
media to make sure the world has access.
Since launching our campaign in October 2018, together we have achieved the following:
Dec 21, 2018 – We hired a content editor!!!
Dec 15th, 2018 – We removed one ad unit on our website.
Dec 1st, 2018 – Supporters helped increase our website traffic by 40%. BIGGER IMPACT!
Dec 15th, 2018 – We removed one ad unit on our website.
Dec 1st, 2018 – Supporters helped increase our website traffic by 40%. BIGGER IMPACT!
We currently have a little over 3000 supporters for our CMM campaign,
we need 20,000 for our journalism to thrive month in and month out.
Very large independent media outlets like the Guardian have turned to
this model and they are thriving, now it’s our turn!
You can become a supporter of CE through our CMM campaign here.
The Takeaway
YouTube has not at all been clear about
what is going on with our account, but we don’t have to let it stop us
or even get upset. It is what it is and independent media has had to
pivot many times throughout this all out war to keep mainstream media
alive.
As people, we have the power. We decide
what lives based on what we choose to support. Done with the mainstream?
Don’t support it anymore, instead, help keep independent media thriving
by not only engaging with it and sharing it but also by financially
supporting it if you believe in it.
Independent conscious media is the future, it’s only a matter of time.
Help Support Collective Evolution
In order to stay truly independent, we need your help. We are not going to put up paywalls on this website, as we want to get our info out far and wide. For as little as $3 a month, you can help keep CE alive!
SUPPORT CE HERE!
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