Key Takeaways
- Bankless’ YouTube channel was banned on May 8th and was later unbanned
- Several web3 accounts like Gabriel Haines.eth, the Optimism Collective, were also banned recently without any proper notice/justification.
- Following this ban, Stani Kulechov took to Twitter urging users to switch to Web3 social to keep their freedom of speech.
On May 8th, Bankless, a YouTube channel offering crypto-related content, took to Twitter to announce that it had been banned from YouTube without any warning, justification, or notice. The tweet also reads” It’s not okay to ban crypto content”.
Bankless boasts over 150,000 subscribers on its Ethereum-focused podcast, newsletter, and channel on YouTube. Bankless has over 10,000 hours of content and featured people as renowned as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
The ban on Bankless comes against the backdrop of Youtube’s increased clampdown on channels offering crypto content. Educational web3 crypto accounts such as Optimism Collective and Gabriel Haines.eth were also recently shut down. Gabriel Haines.eth, on May 6th, also took to Twitter to announce the Youtube ban on his channel. He posted a screenshot of the ban that reads:” Your organization’s Google Workspace account is closed, and your data has been permanently deleted.”
Following this web3 account “clampdown” by YouTube, Crypto leader Stani Kulechov took to Twitter urging users to switch to Web3 social to keep their freedom of speech. Users on Bankless’s Twitter thread also made comments like, “Wow guys, I finally get why we need web3,” which would help prevent an organization from shutting down or banning a channel through decentralization.
Responding to Bankless’ ban announcement on Twitter, Team Youtube apologised and confirmed the unbanning of the Youtube Account. Team Youtube’s response reads as “confirming @BanklessHQ channel is back up, we’re so sorry this happened. looking into the other channels, you mentioned in your other tweet, thanks so much for bearing with us”
Bankless, while thanking YouTube for unbanning them, felt that the crypto community was being unnecessarily targeted by YouTube. Their tweet reads as, “Hey @SusanWojcicki, thanks for unbanning us! Know your are battling spam bots and scammers, but sometimes it feels like crypto is being targeted, and the crypto community is left wondering why. You wanna stop by the podcast and chat? We can talk web3 and NFTs while we’re at it.”
