Thursday, October 13, 2011

So is the YouTube Partner Program Racist?

I will be responding to a blog post made by YouTube user zennie62

I would encourage you to read his hilarious blog post before you read my response.

It seems that YouTube is racist because they ignored his request to take part in the YouTube Partner meetup taking place in San Bruno that was announced on their twitter here. Now the registration form no longer works so this is basically what it detailed as outlined in this help formum post

First you would get a tour of the YouTube home office, you would get a chance to preview new product demos, you would attend a livestream talk, and get one on one optimization from Partner support.

To quote from zennie62

...this blogger signed up for the YouTube Partners meetup for Ocotber 18th, and was one of the first to do so, yet received zero feedback. Zennie62 is not a show channel, and never will be; it does news commentary and always will do that. But to not be invited to a YouTube meeting because I suddenly don’t “fit the pattern” (or complain about it) is beyond the pale – no pun intended.


Well first of all he has no way of knowing if he was one of the first to register. YouTube's Partner twitter channel (now renamed YTCreators) has over 35,000 followers and they said seating was limited. I myself also signed up for this session within minutes of the twitter announcement, however I was not selected either. You don't see me citing YouTube's antifat policy. Think about it other than Shaycarl name another fat guy on top of YouTube right now. Shaycarl has even lost the weight.

Zennie62 then goes on to talk about the fact that people are using the N-word on YouTube and that it is shameful. Welcome to the internet. He goes on to say,


YouTube’s sending a message that it doesn’t want to know your opinion, just see you act like a silly goose. There’s not even a category for “news” to find YouTubers like Zennie62 in the YouTube Partners and Creators page.

That’s wrong.

For YouTube to seem to be discouraging content producers like myself does not spell a good future for the program, and opens up a huge market for video news commentary that YouTube appears reluctant to fill. But that’s for the future – my issue now is that I feel YouTube is trying to push people like myself to the back benches because we don’t do shows, are minority, and take on news commentary.

That’s a mistake in so many ways.

First, it’s a way of silencing a person because you may disagree with their message. Second, it is playing on the edges of violation of free speech. Third, it works against the very spirit of YouTube – free expression.


Zennie62 nobody is censoring you. The fact that YouTube does not have a category for Partners who do the news (Despite the fact that YouTube HAS a category for partners who do the news click here) does not mean that they are censoring you.

Censorship is the suppression of speech. Unless you can show a message that you got from YouTube saying that you can't say something you are not being censored. If you want views you have to do what the rest of us do. Go out and get them. Network with other people, make content that people want to enjoy. We all have our slumps, and subscription glitches happen all the time on this website.

However for you to claim that YouTube is against you because of your race or because you report the news is laughable. Tell that to RussiaToday who is quickly gaining subscribers.