In January, YouTube suddenly changed the way it determined whether channels were eligible to earn money on the platform. As a result, thousands of small channels lost their ability to generate money on YouTube. They had no way to appeal since most YouTube creators not in YouTube’s top 3 percent have no direct line of communication to the company and receive only automated messages.
One of those affected was Brian Christopher, who, through his two-year old BrianChristopherSlots, has produced more than 1,100 vlogs of himself gambling, mostly on slot machines. His channel has had 50 million views and has 80,000 subscribers. He was set to start a month-long promotional tour when YouTube terminated his channel without warning. Other prominent gambling channels “repeated or severe violations” of its community guidelines, which prohibit “violent or dangerous acts that have an inherent risk of serious physical harm or death.”
Christopher, who makes his full-time living from YouTube, said he gets approvals from the casinos and slot-machine manufacturers he uses prior to publishing his videos. He does not use swear words, feature explicit content or do anything else that could be perceived as violating YouTube’s guidelines, which many consider to be frustratingly vague. After his channel was taken down, Christopher spent several days renegotiating deals he had made with casinos throughout his tour. “YouTube doing this stuff absolutely jeopardizes my business relationships. I’m in contact with the casinos I was supposed to visit, I’m trying to put them at ease and continue on Facebook. I know I haven’t lost my brand but it’s tough.”
The YouTube gambling community isn’t large but the biggest channels have tens and up to hundreds of thousands of active fans. This allows the vloggers to broker brand deals with large casinos, gambling-machine manufacturers and online gambling sites in Europe.
Christopher’s channel eventually was reinstated. But other popular gambling channels have received permanent or temporary bans, or have had features revoked, like the ability to livestream. Christopher said, “I’ve spoken with other channels, no one knows what’s happening. No one has any facts, including myself. No other channels know how to prevent this. They’re scared, they’re deleting videos saying, ‘Maybe these are ones that YouTube won’t like.’ They’re afraid to go live.”
Christopher said YouTube sent an email notifying him his appeal was granted and his channel reinstated–but still did not explain why it was suspended. He said YouTube needs to understand how even the smallest platform or policy changes can impact creators like him. “I just hope that YouTube comes through. I just hope that they will open a dialogue with me. I made them a ton of money over the past few years. For them to just close up shop with zero way of communication is a slap in the face,” he said.
YouTubers said they’ve tried to operate on other platforms but YouTube’s is unique. Raja, who operates the YouTube gambling channel Raja Slots, which was deleted then reinstated, said, “You need something like YouTube to help people find your channel. We have explored other options, but those other platforms aren’t going to help grow a channel.”
