Back in April, I received notice that my YouTube channel had lost access to advanced features. Once again, I received this notice (regarding insufficient positive channel history).
Everything I wrote back in April still applies and it is moreso obvious now (YouTube’s intentions) when this comes alongside the following watch hour achievement. If you search for this exact phrase, more threads on Reddit pops up.
The above is because one particular video (uploaded in April 2024) happened to end up gaining traction in Japan around November 2024 (thus the algorithm will do what it does with how it all of that data will push it to have stronger signal). That’s the thing with a video being tested into a broader YouTube recommendation that ends up getting a decent CTR. It’s now close to 1.4 million impressions (but I expect this to drop off a cliff now in relation to losing access to advanced features since things like that tend to render channels invisible; it’s YouTube’s way to get channel owners to act on the issue — which for me, doesn’t matter).
Reading between the unwritten lines; YouTube’s parent company Google, really wants you to upload your photo ID or have you do that video verification to bypass the only other method of building channel history (which is approximately two months minimum of the channel running — but it can take much longer and YouTube will remain vague on those details). How about “go screw yourself Google/YouTube”. Back in April, I did just that (and checked off the same box again) to build channel history. The advanced features was reinstated around July 2024.
As I wrote before, the loss of these “advanced” features doesn’t affect me since I’m not an actual content creator. I have long mentioned I have zero intentions of monetizing the channel (because I have no intentions of handing over mounds of additional personal information to Alphabet/Google and I don’t need the pittance of money that would come from it anyway), don’t really use the “pin comment” feature, and rarely have any links to URL’s outside of YouTube. The lower limits on daily uploads is also a non-factor.
The reason I am wasting my time writing about this, is because it’s a joke when the company tries to tie these things to keeping the platform safe, and you see so much content on the platform that defies that premise. You have misleading clickbait in droves, propaganda level content, very blatant methods of bypassing copyright strikes, etc. I “see” the ulterior motives behind all of this. As I wrote before, the company is free to implement these “rules/guidelines” where the users are at the mercy of the company regardless of whether they follow them 100% of the time (because as the terms of service goes, the company is free to revise them at any time/can do what they want to do).
I look at this as this: I consider it a data harvesting operation simply based on the context of where the vast majority of Alphabet/Google’s revenues come from (advertisement by which being able to do specific targeting is key) along with AI/ML training. The bottomline for them is access to as much personal data (and in the age of AI/ML, things like your likeliness in the form of facial video and/or a photo ID that also has your other personal information). No thank you (or as I wrote back in April, “go to hell”).
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