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YouTube to terminate account access if not 'commercially viable'

San Francisco, Nov 11


Content creators have criticised new Terms of Service from Google-owned YouTube that gives the company power to terminate account access for users if it deems the account is "no longer commercially viable".

The video sharing platform started sending out the emails to users last week to notify about the upcoming changes to its terms of service to come into effect from December 10.

"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," the new YouTube terms of service read.

"We will notify you with the reason for termination or suspension by YouTube," it added.

The move hasn't gone well with content creators. The new terms of service have also left users baffled.

"Y'all, tell @YouTube this isn't okay. This affects everybody, including you're favorite content creators, and you. They are saying they can now delete your account if they cannot profit off of you. First it was small creators, and recently child friendly content. Now it's this," tweeted one user.

Another reacted: "YouTube is updating their Terms of Service on 10 December, 2019. It presents an awful possibility for the future of creators on the platform. It seems they will be able to terminate your channel if it's "no longer commercially viable".

According to new "Terms", "If your Google account is terminated or your Google account's access to the Service is restricted, you may continue using certain aspects of the Service (such as viewing only) without an account, and this Agreement will continue to apply to such use. If you believe your Google account has been terminated in error, you can appeal using this form".

YouTube said it was updating its Terms of Service ("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".