Bankless Crypto Channel Banned From YouTube

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Bankless, which claimed 150,000 subscribers to its Ethereum-focused newsletter and podcast, channel on YouTube, said it had been banned from the social media platform without warning or justification. YouTube restored service a few hours later.

• The channel, which boasted more than 10,000 hours of content and featured people as notable as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, said in a tweet its account had been terminated.

🚨🚨🚨
The Bankless @YouTube account 'has been terminated'
🪓
No warning.
No notification.
No justification

150,000 subs
10,000+ hours of content

Hey @YouTube, our community would like a word!

RETWEET to let YouTube hear you: It’s not okay to ban crypto content pic.twitter.com/MJQ4MGwtYD

— Bankless 🏴 the UNBANNED (@BanklessHQ) May 8, 2022

• Attempting to click through to the channel yields a notice saying "This page isn't available."

• Bankless isn't alone. Other educational web 3 crypto accounts such as Gabriel Haines.eth and the Optimism Collective were shut down as well.

It seems that @YouTube (@Google) has banned educational web3 accounts on YouTube including @BanklessHQ, @gabrielhaines and @optimismPBC deleting their content and ability to share information with their audiences. We all need to switch to web3 social to keep our freedom of speech

— stani.eth (🌿,👻) (@StaniKulechov) May 8, 2022

• Officials from YouTube weren't immediately available to comment; commentators on Bankless's Twitter thread made comments like "Wow guys I finally get why we need [Web 3]" which would prevent an organization from shutting down a channel through decentralization.

• The removal of the Bankless channel may not be permanent or a signal that YouTube found anything objectionable in the channel's content. The social media giant has shut down other channels in the past without explanation only to reinstate them at a later time, again without explanation.

Read more: Lessons from CoinDesk's One-Day YouTube Shutdown

Update: Monday, May 9, 2022, 15:20 UTC: Added information that YouTube restored the Bankless channel.