Bankless Crypto Channel Banned From YouTube

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.

• 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.

• 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.
• On Monday, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki wrote in a tweet that the company had "clearly made a mistake" in banning the Bankless channel.
• Wojcicki added: "Love the level of conversation happening around crypto on YouTube - very interested in web3 and the role we can play in the topic."

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.

Update: Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 9:02 UTC: Added comments from YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki on reason behind suspension.