They Came After Me

On Monday afternoon, YouTube demonetized my entire channel without any warning. The reason given was just one word, harassment. Without any details concerning what exactly in my videos constitute harassment.

The Financial Impact of YouTube Demonetization

I want to share with you all 9 things this means for me and my channel. They're all really important so I hope you'll stick around with me for them all. Number 1. Thankfully, I'm not a full-time YouTuber which means that I don't depend upon this income to support myself or my family.

So none of you need to worry about me in that regard. Number 2. However, the YouTube revenue that I do receive funds my videos which cost about $300 each to make for the voiceover and for editors.

At number 3, here is what Tucker Carlson said on the Full Send podcast about waking up to the many lies of the mainstream media.

What this means is that unless I find another way to fund my videos, I'll probably start making fewer videos from now on since I'll need to edit more of them myself and it takes a long time to edit videos.

I'll still pay for editing for some of my videos but probably not all of them. Number 3. If you want to help fund the production of more videos, there are 3 different ways that you can help contribute.

The first way is that I've set up a GoFundMe with the goal of funding 8 videos. This would help pay for editors and free up more time for me to brainstorm and make more videos since editing takes a lot of time.

Of course, I'll use all of this money for videos since I don't really need it for myself at all. The second way is to become a Patreon supporter which would help fund my videos more long term. Because YouTube demonetized my channel, all of my memberships are now gone so if you were a member before, it would be great if you could switch over to Patreon to support me there.

Third, if you don't like Patreon, you can also give directly through PayPal and if you don't like PayPal, you can give directly through Venmo as well and the links to all of these ways to give will be in the description below as well as the pinned comment and on screen here.

And like I said before, I'll still be putting some of my money into paying for editors but just not as much as I did before. Number four, I'm certainly not the only creator who's dealing with YouTube issues.

YouTube Censorship and the Creator Exodus

On the same day that my channel was demonetized, Daily Wire's CEO Jeremy Boring tweeted that they've been dealing with a lot of things also and Candace Owens and Michael Knowles just received their second strikes on their channels which means that they're one strike away from getting their entire channel deleted and they can't upload for a week.

Daily Wire's co-CEO Jeremy Boring called out YouTube in a Twitter thread on Sunday revealing a series of quote violations levy that his company shows that casts a betrayal of the video platform's stated commitment to open debate.

In just the last 90 days, Boring said, accounts associated with the Daily Wire have received 104 violations for hateful and derogatory content mainly directed at commentary around trans issues. There have been more than 200 violations in the past few months.

Penalties include Walsh being demonetized last month, Owens and Knowles being suspended for seven days after receiving second strikes, so they're close to getting banned actually, and Peterson getting his first strike, although Peterson got the warning, not an actual strike.

Three strikes in 90 days and an account gets deleted, Boring noted.

And to be honest, I would rather be demonetized and have my channel safe from deletion than to be close to having my channel deleted and still monetized, which is their situation. And it's not only just conservatives and Christians who are dealing with YouTube censorship and demonetization, there are plenty of non-Christian creators who are dealing with stuff like this also because YouTube's policies are just extremely vague and inconsistent.

Just take a look. Saying there's huge problems at YouTube is kind of like saying Ludwig failed another Pokemon run. You just kind of expect it at this point. But this problem's a little bit different than normal because it's literally preventing creators from making money off their own videos and content.

And the worst part, it seems as though there's nothing they can do to reverse YouTube's decision. Hutch, Hutch, who has been a YouTube creator for years now, like 13 years, an absolute OG, he's done a lot of videos with CNNers, he's part of Machinima, Respawn, and the biggest thing that happened to him recently is that his channel's been demonetized.

Like the entire channel is fully demonetized. There's no ads on it whatsoever. You watch it in incognito mode, nothing. Just raw video, which is kind of weird for a guy who has had YouTube as his main source of income for probably a decade of his life, longer than a lot of the people who watch YouTube content.

And the reason why it was demonetized, invalid traffic. Get used to that term because a lot of people are dealing with this invalid traffic issue.

Letting you all know that another awful set of changes are coming to YouTube that have already overnight tanked some creators' source of income from their channels, demonetized like half of their videos with no explanation, and more channels are soon to follow as this continues to roll out.

And I'll let it be known right away here that yes, my channel has been hit extremely hard by this new shadow policy that they've slid into the equation here.

Alternative Platforms and the Limits of Free Speech

Number five, some creators have chosen to leave YouTube altogether and go to places like Rumble or Twitter, such as Steven Crowder, who's gone to Rumble.

Hey YouTube, long time no talk because I've been banned here. Now technically the show is unbanned, but we have two strikes on the account and we've been told that we're very likely to get a third one if we do anything that you know is remotely fun.

So you may not know this, we're still streaming every day on Rumble. And I would love to see that subscriber number right up there, wherever it is. I don't have the best peripheral vision. Go down to zero and just rack up there on Rumble.

So it's still every weekday, Monday through Friday, 10 a .m. Eastern. It's cultural appropriation month, which we would not dare risk doing on YouTube. So until we come back here to stream, which maybe never, we're still figuring it out.

Consider the mass, the exodus right now. The red tide has been parted, Rumble, 10 a .m. Eastern, Monday through Friday. We are still streaming. Just not going to see you here for a little while.

Russell Brand, who has also gone to Rumble.

Don't assume that free speech means the right to freely hurt people's feelings. Why would you use free speech to hurt someone when we can use free speech to bring people together? This is a time for true unity.

What if free speech revealed that we are more united than they'd ever dare imagine? It's time to break free. Rumble.

And Tucker Carlson, who chose to go to Twitter instead of YouTube.

Amazingly, as of tonight, there aren't many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one remaining in the world, the only one, is Twitter, where we are now. Twitter has long served as the place where our national conversation incubates and develops.

Twitter is not a partisan site. Everybody's allowed here, and we think that's a good thing.

Because Twitter actually values free speech now that Elon Musk is in charge.

Wokeness is not building on liberalism. It's the opposite of liberalism. I can mention it. Yes, exactly. Many examples where it's the opposite, including free speech.

Free speech used to be a left or liberal value. And yet we see from the, in quotes, left, a desire to actually censor. I think we should be extremely concerned about anything that undermines the First Amendment.

There's a reason for the First Amendment. People came from countries where they could not speak freely and where saying certain things would get you thrown into prison. And they were like, well, we don't want that here.

And by the way, in many parts of the world, including parts of the world that people might think are relatively similar to the United States, the speech laws are draconian. England is quite different.

I won't name any countries, but...

In France, I think if you deny the Holocaust, which I think is abhorrent, but I also think it should be part of free speech. I really can't emphasize this enough.

We must protect free speech. And free speech only matters, it's only relevant when it's someone you don't like saying something you don't like. The thing about censorship is that for those who would advocate it, just remember, at some point, that will return on you.

However, this works for them because they are enormous personalities and names with enormous followers who will go with them no matter where they go. That's not the case for me, where I'm primarily a faceless channel.

I rarely go on camera because I'm not very good on camera. And I deal with some, you know, some eye issues that make being on camera a little more difficult for me. And really, the only reason I have an audience is because of the YouTube algorithm.

If I chose to go to another platform, which I am on, I upload my videos, I sync my videos to Rumble and to Odyssey. But if I go to another platform, my audience will virtually disappear. Love it or hate it, the YouTube algorithm has enabled me to reach tens of millions of people who I otherwise wouldn't have reached with the truth of the Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And I plan on continuing to use this algorithm for as long as I can to reach millions more people with the gospel. The good news is that I don't think being demonetized is affecting my reach because my videos are still reaching a lot of people.

So that's good. I'm still going to publish my videos to other platforms just in case, but my primary focus will always be YouTube simply because the algorithm gives me an audience that is pretty incredible.

Just like Twitter, YouTube is kind of where the people are, and so that's where I'm going to be.

Now we want to go a little bit further because the advantage to being on YouTube is that YouTube is one of the platforms that drives the national conversation, right? That's why it's valuable to be there.

That's why I would like to be there if I could be there while keeping my integrity. So if you lose, if you leave, you risk taking yourself out of the conversation.

Similarly, Votie Bauckham decided to sell his book, Fault Lines, on Amazon, even though Amazon disagrees with a lot of Christian values, simply because lots of people use Amazon, and Votie viewed it as plundering the Egyptians.

I say that because several people have asked, you know, and several people have even been offended that there would be a link to Amazon on here. You know, we're plundering the Egyptians.

Reapplying for Monetization and Staying on YouTube

Yeah. Number six, I'm able to reapply for monetization in about a month. Actually, correction, looks like it's 90 days now instead of 30 days. So not the greatest, but also not the end of the world. My theory is that it's just a handful of videos that are causing this problem, and they're probably not getting many views anyways, and so I'll probably do a little bit of experimentation and reapply and see what happens.

It might not work, but who knows? We'll just see what happens. Moving forward, I'm still going to cover controversial topics, but I'll maybe try to be a little more smart about exactly how I do it to avoid raising red flags with YouTube's policies.

Persecution, the True Church, and Spiritual Warfare

Number seven, how am I doing with all of this? Obviously, there's some disappointment, but overall, I'm doing perfectly fine. I recognize that it's probably a good sign that I'm facing opposition and, you know, some degree of persecution for sharing the truth of the Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ, because the Bible teaches that that's what's going to happen to Christians.

Persecution has always been a reality in the church since the book of Acts, always. Persecution has always been against the true church. The true church, the true gospel, the true Lord is hated by the ruler of this world, and He is the ruler of this world system, and all men who don't belong to Him are part of that system.

They are of their father, the devil, and consequently, the true church is always under attack. This is no surprise.

I also recognize that there are countless Christians all over the world who are dealing with much greater persecution than I'm dealing with. Their lives are in danger, their families are in danger, simply for believing in Jesus Christ, simply for having faith in the gospel.

Life is extremely difficult for Christians in Afghanistan. It has been for a number of years, and for several years, North Korea was number one, but only just, because the situation in both countries was desperate for Christians.

It remains so.

So all in all, I'm feeling still very blessed and encouraged to be where I am and to be able to do what I'm doing to reach millions of people with the truth through these videos. I know that that's a privilege that I don't deserve, and that could easily be taken away from me.

Keeping the Channel Going for the Glory of God

Number 8. I'm still here, and I'm still committed to growing this channel for the glory of God. I have a random goal of reaching 1 million subscribers by the end of the year, so if you want to help me reach that goal, I would love it if you could subscribe.

I would be very blessed and encouraged if you would do that. I'm not going anywhere despite these setbacks. I love making videos, and I love pointing people towards the Bible and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A Spiritual Battle and a Call to Persevere

Number 9. Let's all remember that we are in a spiritual battle, and it's not at all surprising that we're going to come across people and institutions that stand against the message of Jesus Christ and the Bible.

So saints, let's keep fighting the good fight. We have a world to win.

We have a world to win. Do not think that I'm standing up here this evening saying that all is dark and gloomy and we should circle the wagons and just wait for the second coming. No, we have a world to win.

We have nations to save. We have dragons to fight, and it can be done. But it cannot be done in the power of a man. But it can be done in the power of God.

Thank you so much for watching. If you like these videos and want to help support this channel, the best way to do it is to just watch these videos until the end and click the subscribe button. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement.