Won’t Terminate Channels That are Not Making Money, Clarifies YouTube

YouTube created quite a stir among content creators when its new terms of service (ToS) pointed out that the video streaming website can shut down channels that are deemed unprofitable at its sole discretion. These terms put millions of channels at risk, baffling users worldwide. However, YouTube has now clarified on the particular clause in question, saying that the website won’t delete any account or channel for not being commercially viable. YouTube has tweeted from the @TeamYouTube handle: “To clarify, there are no new rights in our ToS to terminate an account bc (because) it’s not making money. As before, we may discontinue certain YouTube features or parts of the service, for example, if they’re outdated or have low usage. This does not impact creators/viewers in any new ways.”

Notably, in the tweet, YouTube is not talking about channels but referring to ‘certain’ features of the YouTube platform itself. This indicates that less-used features on the website like internal YouTube messaging or YouTube Studio Classic may be terminated. To recall, the debate started when updated terms section titled “Account Suspension and Termination” included the following new statement: “YouTube may terminate your access, or your Google account’s access to all or part of the Service if YouTube believes, in its sole discretion, that provision of the Service to you is no longer commercially viable.”

YouTube started sending out emails notifying people of the new terms that are set to come in to place from December 10. YouTube had said it was updating its terms to improve readability and transparency and this update “does not change the Google Privacy Policy, nor the way we collect and process your data”.