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Google/ YouTube

Three Strikes and YouTube out

Here are some important lessons for those of us who use services like YouTube to deliver business content. A friend recently had his YouTube account suspended and can no longer access his “archive” of 900+ clips, many of which are unique business-related videos, created over the past couple of years.

Picture credit: castaway in Scotland Now

It’s a very difficult situation for him, because he was using YouTube as the sole repository of his video output. So without his account, he has lost access to a back-catalogue of valuable stuff.

I am sure that Google and Youtube are within their rights and I can’t really comment on the details of the case.

But setting aside the nature of the disputed copyright violation content for a moment, there are a couple of observations that might be drawn as lessons for others:

Firstly, the YouTube “Three Strikes” policy seems to have been invoked without a prior warning.

Secondly, committing clearly valuable content (unique business video creations) to a non-contractual provider in the cloud, without backup provision, is a clear risk – albeit a risk that many of us routinely ignore, either wittingly or unwittingly.

Mark has my commiserations for his predicament and I do hope he can reach a settlement with Google/ YouTube, even if they only re-instate his account on a “final warning” basis.

Of course the real lesson is: what Google giveth, Google may taketh away.

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  • Richard Hathway

    Google also bans AdWords advertisers FOR EVER if they misbehave.

    OK, the misbehaviour must be fairly serious … BUT … some claim to have been banned as part of ‘collateral damage.

    If 80%+ of your income derives from Adwords … and then you are banned FOR EVER then life can be tough.

    Even the courts don’t have that much power to control your career.

    Many Adwords advertisers must lose sleep at night wondering if they have done something wrong that day which might trigger the lifetime ban.

    I’m a happy (and well behaved!!!!) Adwords advertiser … BUT … hearing about these lifetime bans makes me wonder if I should maybe split my advertising between Google and something else.

    I am thinking about returning to major print advertising and I’m also thinking of EXPANDING my bricks-and-mortar businesses … actions which indicate an unexpected return to the past!