Overview

YouTube's Crypto Purge refers to a number of educational YouTube videos regarding cryptocurrency being removed in December 2019. Though YouTube officials claimed that the removals and strikes were mistakes, many members of the crypto community claimed the removals were intentional.

Background

On December 23rd, 2019, Crypto currency youtuber Chris Dunn posted to Twitter^[1] saying, "@YouTube just removed most of my crypto videos citing "harmful or dangerous content" and "sale of regulated goods"… it's been 10 years of making videos, 200k+ subs, and 7M+ views. WTF are you guys doing @TeamYouTube?!" (shown below). The tweet gained over 2,500 likes and 830 retweets in four days.

Developments

On December 23rd, 2019, other youtubers began tweeting that their videos are being removed. Twitter user and YouTuber @NodeInvestor ^[2]tweeted, "Merry Christmas to you also @YouTube. Apparently a video I posted two years ago on researching crypto’s is now illegal…Rules are changing" (shown below, left). The next day, Twitter user @crypt0snews^[3] posted a list of YouTubers affected by strikes on YouTube (shown below, right). YouTube responded to the tweet that day by replying "Jumping in – we're looking into this. Hope to share an update soon."

Many crypto youtubers who were unaffected by the purge posted videos in which they explain some conspiracies surrounding the strikes, removals and warnings. On December 25th, 2019, Crypto Zombie uploaded a video on the subject which garnered over 28,900 views and 2,400 shares in two days (shown below).

That day, Twitter user @BradMichelson^[4] posted a screenshot of various crypto youtubers going private which accumulated over 500 likes in two days (shown below, left). That same day, @cryptomanran^[5] tweeted, "YouTube deleting all Crypto content is a MASSIVE blow to the industry. YouTube is the go to place for educational video and the first port of call for new people entering the eco system to learn the basics. As a community we should challenge this formally" which gained over 3,200 likes in two days (shown below, right).

On December 26th, @TeamYouTube responded to @crypt0news^[3] tweet saying "Update – We’re glad that you see your videos are back up! This was an error on our side during the review process -strikes should be reinstated and resolved. The policy team is actively working on the remaining affected channels. Thanks so much for your patience!" (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References