Disclaimer: Speaking to Cointelegraph, YouTube later responded that the cryptocurrency-related content was taken downwardly by accident and has since been restored.

Crypto YouTubers are greeting the holidays with reports that their content appears to have been censored past the platform.

In a tweet published on December. 23, Chris Dunn — a crypto YouTuber with 210,000 subscribers and almost vii.v meg channel views —  claimed that:

"@YouTube just removed near of my crypto videos citing "harmful or unsafe content" and 'sale of regulated goods'... it'due south been ten years of making videos, 200k+ subs, and 7M+ views. WTF are you guys doing @TeamYouTube?!"

In a separate tweet on Dec. 23, crypto education channel Node Investor wrote:

"Merry Christmas to you besides @YouTube. Apparently a video I posted two years ago on researching crypto's is now illegal...Rules are changing."

Strike Action

Screenshot allegedly showing YouTube's notice to Chris Dunn

Screenshot allegedly showing YouTube's notice to Chris Dunn. Source: @ChrisDunnTV

In Chris Dunn'southward case, a screenshot of the declared intervention by YouTube evidently indicates that he was served with a "strike" action against at least seven videos, each of which have been designated as "harmful or dangerous content."

These videos' titles include "50 Crypto Trading & Investing Lessons from the By 5 Years," "Is Bitcoin Really Money?" and "The Futurity of Initial Money Offerings."

According to a 2nd screenshot shared by Dunn — evidently showing a further explanatory discover from YouTube — a "strike" against a channel prevents the YouTuber from uploading, posting or streaming content for i week. A second strike extends this brake to a two-week period, while a third within any ninety-mean solar day period results in the permanent removal of the channel.

Node Investor's tweet reveals a similar notification — plain pertaining to only one video — indicating that the content has been removed due to a violation of the platform's "auction of regulated goods policy."

Cointelegraph has reached out to Chris Dunn and Node Investor and will update this article should any further information be forthcoming.

Platforms' evolving crypto stance

Fifty-fifty as YouTube does not ostensibly restrict legitimate crypto-related content, cybersecurity researchers take recently detected abuses of the platform for the purposes of spreading cryptojacking malware.

Once blanket-banned on Facebook, Google and Twitter, restrictions on blockchain-related advertisements accept now gradually been lifted, and some provisions have been introduced to dash the policy and let most forms of crypto-related content, except for misleading or scammy ads.

Cointelegraph has itself faced a brief stint of censorship from Facebook — the kickoff social media platform to initially ban cryptocurrency-related ads — soon after the CT Facebook folio published a documentary on the apply of cryptocurrencies in the adult entertainment industry.