YouTube suspends Russell Brand from making money off his channel — The suspension comes following the publication of rape and sexual assault allegations against the British star::YouTube has blocked Russell Brand from making money off its platform and the BBC pulled some of his shows from its online streaming service in the wake of rape and sexual assault allegations against the comedian-turned-influencer.
Is it against YT TOS or did they take the liberty with this decision
Second, as much as I have always found him sketchy and a very irritating person, I am very alarmed by the erosion of people’s right to be presumed innocent until found guilty. even when I know that he is quite capable of the committing those allegation
A platform can choose themselves who they extend the platform to.
It may not be justice, but if Youtube decides to demonetise every video featuring red sweaters, then they have the liberty to do so.
That’s too much power for a monopoly to have. And YouTube is quite close to a monopoly.
Maybe “more fool you” but entire livelihoods and businesses rely on YouTube not cutting them off at any random moment with no notice or warning.
YouTube sucks, but it’s not a monopoly. It’s nowhere close to one. Monopolies are not “there’s only one product.” People love spouting monopoly to every mainstream product like iPhone and Windows.
YouTube has plenty of competition in video hosting. There’s more professional high cost ones like Netflix. Less giving but just as easily accessible is TikTok. Hell there’s even PornHub.
Just because YouTube has a unique combination of services that has allowed self employment for many people that can’t get it easily on existing sites does not mean that competition does not exist. Many content creators on YouTube actually advertise a competing site on YouTube.
Before we can start offering solutions we need to have a good understanding on what the problem is and what it isn’t.
That’s why it’s so important to just build your own website and to stop being dependent on other people for anything you have.
Right. “just build your own YouTube” is the solution. 👍
PeerTube exists yet you still whine.
Don’t want the risk of culpability ? Don’t want to consider others? Feel entitled? Then go Create your own distribution.
It’s simple, just don’t do something that will get you banned fifteen years later when the winds change direction. Sure, red sweaters were cool back then, but now they mean something wildly different. We’ll give you three strikes for three videos with one second of a red sweater. And you’re deleted for so many strikes. Thanks, bu-bye.
You just compared clothing choice to rape. Seek therapy.
Alledged rape. Presumption of innocence.
I’m not a fucking jury or newscaster so I’m not sure why you’re coming at me with that incel shit.
He fucking did it anyway.
The allegations say it was ten years ago. Can we have women turn to the police before their rapist turn famous and rich?
Yeah I just found out this British guy is a cunt and some pseudo crazy Jesus christ right winger, but not everyone who’s awful is really guilty
Oh joy, rape apologia, what a wonderful thing to wake up to in the morning. 🤦
THIS GUY RAPED ME, BAN HIM
But YouTube doesn’t have a monopoly, you’re more than welcome to start up a competing video hosting site and steal their customers. YouTube is providing a platform, for people to upload and store their videos for free – they have every right to decide who they do and don’t want on their platform.
Due to network effects, YouTube has a monopoly in video hosting. A monopoly is any company which has significantly more marketshare in its respective niche than all other companies in the same niche.
Now, does YouTube fit this definition?
Btw, there have been successful lawsuits against channel suspensions already from people making a living off of YouTube due to worker protection laws.
YouTube doesn’t need to presume shit. You’re confusing YouTube with the US government.
YT is a private company supplying a server. They can set their own policy (TOS which is neither enforceable by law for either side) and they don’t actually owe anyone their livelihood. It’s like getting kicked off of any platform,even Etsy. Etsy doesn’t then owe you money that you could have made. You don’t own potential money. It’s not promised to you. They are a platform. Not your distributor. And even at that you can be kicked from a distributor anytime as they can also have policies on content they will associate with. If they decide it’s disagreeable, that in itself is a breach of contract.
I don’t think the debate is whether YouTube is allowed to choose who is or isn’t on their site, but whether it is OK to subject someone to the result of a trial by social media.
If someone made an accusation against you, would you think it’d be right of your employer to sack you, or would you like the chance to defend yourself legally first?
he’s not EMPLOYED by YouTube. That is not what this is.
Yeah, I don’t know anything about this guy but this is an alarming decision if the headline is accurate.
It’s more alarming if he is innocent
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I really hope no one falsely accuses you of a sex crime, because you’ve just made your bed.
if it were Keanu Reeves, He would get the Pretty privilege
I have no reason to doubt the allegations. But allegations shouldn’t be enough for somebody to lose their livelihood.
Well I’m sure Google will be donating the money to sexual assault non profits rather than pocketing the profits right?
Right?
Do you know any corporation that would?
Most corporations would suspend his account completely for damage control.
They’re suspending his income. That’s theft.
I made a joke comment, well since they’re taking his money, I’m sure it’s going to victims. Right?
And you come along and point out that, in your belief, all corporations steal revenue from their content providers when they get accused of a crime. Show me one other platform that’s done this. Suspended revenue (i.e. stealing revenue) prior to conviction rather than canceling content.
Note the BBC cancelled him. Google is still making money off an accused rapist. In fact, more. Because said rapist isn’t getting a cut.
Has he been banned from using the Internet? No? Then you’re spewing bullshit. YouTube doesn’t have to host his content and advertisers don’t need to pay him for it. He isn’t entitled to shit. He can fuck off to some right-wing hellscape of a site that will platform him. That’s capitalism baby!
FYI, even if ISP’s were absorbed the the government and made into a utility as you suggest, Google would still own YouTube and still be able to demonetize whoever it wants.
I’m not sure why this thread is such a swarm of brainless zero IQ takes.
For 700 years one of the central principles of British law has been that someone shouldn’t be punished without being brought in Answer by due Process of the Law.
It’s scary how many people are willing to throw that out the window and behave like medieval peasants lynching witches.
Yep. I understand that it’s hard to prosecute rape, but without rule of law we’re fucked.
This principle exists to shield the people from their government. It is not intended to be (and has never been) a protection for someone’s social status or reputation.
Who’s throwing him in prison? He’s isn’t facing any legal consequences as a result of this news. He’s facing social consequences from organisations that no longer want to be associated with him. He’s free to being a libel case in the UK if he wants to clear his name, but instead he put up a video claiming “they’re” out to get him.
No one should see YT as a “livelyhood” as no one has a contract with them guaranteing income.
YouTube is big business. Of course content makers should be able to rely on it for livelihood.
Google used to be incredibly hands-off about these things, only terminating someone if they were actually convicted in a court of law.
Compare the cases of Austin Jones (who didn’t have his YouTube channel terminated until he was actually convicted of distributing child porn and sentenced to ten years in prison) and EDP445 (who was caught in a pedophile hunter sting operation and was immediately terminated from all social media.)
My god… some of the commenters would make you think he was being sent to the lethal injection chamber.
The guy had his account demonetized. He’s not even banned from YouTube. He can post as many videos as he wants. He just doesn’t get paid for them. Which makes him… like most of us who post YouTube videos. The horror!
It’s scary seeing how many people also don’t understand that these laws protect you from government entities.
IYoutube is considered a private company, as it isn’t run by the government. So, protective laws against government rules don’t really apply. Proper court proceeding would be good, yes, but youtube is not the Court. Youtube can and does control what is on their platform. They are contract bound to advertiser interests, and their advertisers don’t want to risk encouraging him if he is guilty. That is also their right, as they are also private entities. There is nothing that obligates them to continue funding someone. They could also decide to stop funding because the guy like bagels.
As a private entity, google could theoretically stop every single youtube channel today, if they chose to do so. They can decide to not host your content just because you like potatoes over radishes. It’s their private platform.
I don’t get why that’s complex. Private vs public.
Agreed, but what’s really grinding my gears here is he hasn’t been banned from YouTube. He just won’t make money from his videos. People are complaining because a multimillionaire isn’t getting paid by Google. Baffling.
Maybe because in principle someone had lost their income due to unproven allegations. Who they are our the financial status is irrelevant.
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He already puts his videos on the dodgy other video sites for wronguns like Rumble doesn’t he?
Google again pretending to be the moral police. Based on accusations of something that might or might not have happened 20 years ago. Apparently they don’t have a problem with him being on their platform or showing ads on his videos though, they just want to save some money and look like they’re doing the right thing (they are not).
Google is still the authority of Youtube, and can decide any number of dumb policies they so desire.
Their platform their rules, they did not overstate their authority.
And here you are, pretending to be unbiased
Since when did innocent until proven guilty stop being a thing? Not defending anyone here, just seems that principle is all but forgotten in modern society.
That’s only a legal principle - he’s not in jail, is he? Individuals and organizations can do whatever they want. It has nothing to do with modern society.
Punishing people based on accusations isn’t just.
Is this him being punished or YouTube protecting it’s brand?
Since when are corporations actions based on justice?
Fuck it, I’ll bite. Let’s fight in the bailey:
It is when it’s rape and you’re a right wing creep who has been known for decades to be a creep.
We don’t live in your nightmare world anymore where rapists can exploit the principles of the old empire to get away with subjugating everyone else.
Innocent until proven guilty is an anachronistic idea that is way past its time. We accept credible accusations from rape victims as evidence now because we are no longer primitive sexists who assume women are lying about everything. We have video now. A lot of rape cases don’t actually need trials because the dumb fuck rapists record themselves doing it and put the videos on Facebook. Rapists are rarely ever arrested or charged despite overwhelming evidence because of sexism. The founding principles of the Constitition themselves are outdated, increasingly irrelevant, and do not reflect the reality of today’s world with today’s values.
The statistical nature of rape means the fact this guy’s being cancelled and more importantly charged over it means he’s guilty. The odds are too low for him not to be.
So we trust the accusations, and unless evidence comes out proving them false, you don’t have shit to say.
Now go ahead and waste everyone’s time debating the value of innocent until proven guilty, I’ll play along, fuck it.
Then he’ll sue
He should be able to sue youtube for a nice settlement (if he is in the right), maybe? Idealistically, that should keep such bullshit in check.
But then again, youtube probably has “Youtube reserves the right to do fucking anything to you” in its TOS that everybody just skips.
He should be able to sue youtube for a nice settlement (if he is in the right), maybe? Idealistically, that should keep such bullshit in check.
But then again, youtube probably has “Youtube reserves the right to do fucking anything to you” in its TOS that everybody just skips.
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It’s simple, any pictures of politicians we love like that are wild, goofy, alt-right conspiracy theories. We have 95% of news organizations already repeating the same stories as each other. When 95% all say it’s a conspiracy, it is. Don’t believe those other fringe rags.
What happened to Al Franken three weeks after Leeann Tweeden, a conservative talk-radio host, accused him?
We absolutely need to investigate claims and make sure due process is not an up hill battle. At least 63% of rapes are not reported. Yet there needs to be due process. Due process is different from a private company deciding not to do business with you or pay you while due process is under way, so I’m not surprised by YouTube taking this action.
Youtube cutting off their monetisation is not the same as putting the person in jail.
I didn’t say it was?
You did though. Innocent until proven guilty is a legal concept, not a business concept. Businesses are allowed to choose who to do business with.
That’s the only context innocent until proven guilty ever existed, so yeah, you actually kind of did
Yes you did
Because cutting off monetisation has nothing to do with being proven guilty or not.
You’re literally quoting a law that is used in court about penalties and it’s still up there. You forgot to delete before saying you didn’t say it. You’re both lazy and stupid.
Then why are you framing your post like it was? If you get accused of raping a woman and you’re going on live TV wearing your employee uniform defending yourself, your employer is firing you 10 out of 10 times.
That’s for criminal liability to attach. Not public opinion.
Guilty until proven Innocent, and even then still kinda guilty.
YouTube is not court.
He hasn’t been thrown in jail without trial.
This is a private company protecting itself.
You can just send me all your money. It’s not like you need income to get food and shelter, or anything like that.
Yeah they’ve taken all his money.
Hahaha get the fuck out of here, stupid shit like this isn’t even worth responding to. You’re an idiot.
Am I misreading your comment or are you supporting the idea of guilty until proven innocent?
Definitely misreading it
Innocent until proven guilty is part of the legal system. Not part of an advertisers choice to place ads.
He has not been found guilty of a crime without evidence. He’s lost ad revenue from a private platform.
I think you might be misreading.
Damm guys 15 dislikes? I get that I misunderstood but i didn’t expect to be ratio’d.
If you ever get accused of a crime, your whole life should be cancelled as a precautionary measure /s
Russell Brand is a wealthy, famous Hollywood star who does not know who you are and will never give you the love you needed from your father.
You have allowed yourself to become so cynical that the only reason you can conceive of for speaking up in another person’s defense is that it might be part of some psychological complex from childhood.
Give me another reason to stand up for a famous hollywood star you know nothing real about, just a carefully and expensively crafted media persona.
I’m all for a good discussion around the social implications of false accusations, but there’s an exceptional amounting of simping going on for one specific special boy.
Aside from false accusations - how about tech monopolies (only beholden to profits/shareholders) being judge, jury and executioner?
I think Brand is a narcissistic prick, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care how he’s treated by even bigger evils.
Yes, Brand has been executed by having his YouTube account demonetized. There’s no difference between not being paid by YouTube, but still being allowed to post videos, and being convicted of a crime. No difference whatsoever.
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I agree that capitalism is bad.
But since we live in a capitalist country, I do my part as an informed consumer and I don’t use Google products.
But this particular brand of whining about “big tech” is so stupid. Google risks losing advertisers. Google acts to not lose it’s advertisers. Cry a river that in a capitalist economy a business takes action to protect its income source.
The thing is, he isn’t cancelled.
Nobody who can say they are cancelled actually are cancelled, because if they were actually cancelled you wouldn’t hear anything from then.
Anyway, he still is allowed to post Youtube videos, just doesn’t get money from Google for them.
“nobody who can say they were cancelled actually are cancelled” don’t you think that means you should redefine what “cancelled” means in your head?
It’s a bit more than an accusation, it’s a four year investigation by several media outlets signed off by their legal department. Not someone on twitter.
It’s not the fucking job of YouTube to judge and punish. We have judges and the Criminal Code for that. We should not let us ruled by corporations!
I’m guessing the challenge is advertisers. Advertisers buy ad space next to or in video content. No advertiser wants to buy ad space that is adjacent to or makes it look like they are supporting someone under public scrutiny for sexual assault allegations. So as Google, where you need to sell good ad space to paying advertisers, bother with running ads next to Russel Brand or just say no and make that clear to advertisers to build confidence?
It is their job to make profits. Literally. Google is legally bound by stake holder agreement to maximise profits, absolutely nothing to do with the justice system or any sort of ethical code.
Advertisers won’t want to be shown on his videos while this is ongoing.
Keeping them happy is in fact literally their job.
No, but as a private firm it is there decision what they host, promote and show adverts against. He has no contract with YT guaranteeing an income, thats not how it works. If he wants a guaranteed income he should get back on TV with a contact, but he Burt those bridges when he become a conspiracy grifter.
Yea I understand that, but so many content creators get thrown under the bus by YouTube, twitch, etc. that I think there should be a law protecting individuals from big cooperations that they are dependent on. I know, it’s different in America compared to where I live, here, if you have someone Working for you and you fire that person, depending how long this person works for you already, you have to pay salary for up to 3 months. (There are few reasons that allow cancellation of contract immediately) After you got fired, you can go to a place called “Arbeitslosenkasse” where you get 80% of salary going forward as long as you try to get a new job.
So maybe thats why I find it odd when YouTube just flick a switch upon obligations…
Btw. I don’t know that guy the post is about and highly doubt that he is innocent given the infos I have seen yet.
We have the same laws in the UK, but he’s self-employed. Can you not be self-employed where you live?
I mean its the same in the UK with employment protections, but YouTubers wouldn’t be covered by that as they’re not employees and don’t have contracts. Google don’t really have to share any revenue with uploaders as they’re already providing the infrastructure and storage for free.
No one should rely on that as income and just see it as a bonus, to other income streams.
Oh my God shut up. No one has the right to force a private company to pay them money. YouTube can do any fucking thing they want
Didn’t know Google was the one that sentenced him to jail.
Not giving money is punishment
No, it is a consequence of having bad publicity.
Agree, there’s actual rapists and incels on YouTube that need banning before an alleged rapist or SA.
and they might have tainted any jurors ifa case did come about.
He isn’t banned though.
It’s kind of weird how so much of this thread seems to think a monetized YouTube channel is a human right or something
That’s not the point.
If someone made an allegation against you, would you expect your employer to sack you first and ask questions later or would you like the chance to defend yourself legally first?
Dude, people get fired all the time after being arrested or accused of a heinous act. All of this well before ever going to trial. Businesses don’t have to and often won’t keep someone on that is a risk to their company, culture, or brand identity.
It absolutely sucks that people can lose their livelihood over “he said / she said”, but the fact is that it happens all the time.
Youtube is an employer now?
Semantics
If I was was accused of something awful yes I’d be fired. That how life works, doesn’t make it fair. The reason? Because 9 times out of 10 it’s true.
I don’t think that the democratic principle of innocent until proven guilty is special treatment, nor do I think that the right to a fair trial is special treatment.
God forbid, you ever get falsely accused of anything nefarious, you’ll deserve the treatment that you condone.
And by extension, you obviously expect to be accused of something like this, because you are bending over backwards to defend a probable rapist.
Innocent until proven guilty was NEVER applied anywhere but a legal context and your willful attempts at ignoring that fact when presented it, indicate you’re exactly as suspect as you originally came off. Great job.
Literally every human on the planet is a “potential rapist”.
So by your rhetoric nobody should be able to be employed or have a YouTube channel.
By your incel logic only proven rapists would ever suffer a single consequence of any type. You’d probably support a law that bans even making the accusation publicly until after a conviction. And this is one of many reasons women should avoid you.
Your now assuming my political position and not addressing my words. We can disagree, I just ask you not insult me.
Yeah pretend not to understand the point I’m making, intentionally read words literally and ignore context, but it’s indeed me who is insulting here
We cannot have a functional discussion if personal attacks and insults are involved. At that point how can we establish good faith discord?
All of the top comments in this thread seem very astroturfed. All saying the same thing, all wrong about the doctrinal implications of legal presumptions.
It is very concerning how prominent the “innocent until proven guilty” phrase is getting thrown around. Nothing weird has happened here and this idea never applied anywhere but a courtroom, and yet all these commenters seem convinced of the opposite of both points.
These fucking red pilled incels. Yeah, they can overrun any comment section, but get them in the real world and they scurry back to the shadows roaches.
Didn’t he practically brag about treating women like shit until he had a daughter? That’s what his rebirth special was cringefully about.
My dad got sucked into the Russell Brand woo during the pandemic. Maybe he’ll finally come to his senses now this guy is an obvious fraud?
Low chance, more likely he’ll think Brand is some kind of martyr. Brand immediately dove into the Andrew Tate angle.
It’s simple: if you’re a media personality that uses your influence and money to groom and/or sexually harass or assault women, simply tell your audience that the government is trying to silence you, because “you’re a dangerous revolutionary too close to the truth” or anything like that really.
Block your dad’s router and blame the deep state
Lots of pro-rapists in this thread. Fuck Russel Brand and fuck Google (obviously)
Yeah! More overtones of sexual violence!
Becase people support innocent until proven guilty? I find it reasonable to support that, even though I feel like this case might end with the proven guilty part.
Since when is losing the monetisation on your videos the same as being proven guilty?
I thought that happened in court.
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Judge, jury, and executioner.
HE WAS EXECUTED BY GOOGLE EMPLOYEES???!
Does YouTube have a precedent of blocking people who have allegations? I know little about Russel and his actions, but the way this whole thing has blown up, has me raising an eyebrow. I know his content is exposing of the establishment so I am wondering if we are seeing something here to take him down? Ultimately, justice needs to take place and until then, he should be treated as innocent until proven guilty.
