As you may have heard, YouTube is in an all-out assault against content creators, but it's not too late to salvage the goods.
If you're not up to speed on internet culture, it's important to know that last year over 200 advertisers notified YouTube that if their ads were continued to be displayed next to content which they deemed as 'offensive', they would discontinue their relationship with the company.
This happened at a time where many content creators were building up their audiences and starting to generate a significant amount of revenue from their videos. That all went away ever since what has been dubbed as the 'adpocalypse'.
More recently, YouTube made it clear that their platform is not a place of free speech when they banned Alex Jones of Infowars.
Whatever you think of Alex, as most people have some strong opinion about him one way or the other, the ban was a sign that the only large video hosting site is no longer a place to grow an audience or enjoy content freely, but a place for corporate executives to control which content we can enjoy. This includes political speech.
Additionally, YouTube has recently manipulated their search algorithm to favor corporate media like CNN and Fox News over independent content creators who built up the site in the first place. Searches for popular videos from YouTube channels like Mark Dice sometimes take 50 pages to show up.
All of this is of course antithetical to the idea of YouTube in the first place. Originally, the website was a place for independent creators to explore their own creativity as well as to express their opinions in content that can compete with major film and news. Now that's all being destroyed as YouTube becomes a place for viewing cable news shows and blockbuster films.
For those who were around in the beginning, YouTube's slogan used to be "Broadcast Yourself," now it's something more like "Submit or Face the Consequences."
However, this doesn't all exist in a vacuum as many content creators are jumping ship to other video hosting sites in order to preserve their presence as creators.
Among these sites are BitChute, dTube, and Real.Video. Each of these are relatively new and exist to provide a platform of free speech to anyone who wants to join.
Several prominent YouTubers have moved to these sites, including Steven Crowder, Alex Jones, and Computing Forever.
To be clear, I'm not against any of the other video sites, but my favorite and the one that I think is the most promising is BitChute.
There are several reasons why I see BitChute as the future YouTube. Already, there are several big names on the site which generate a significant amount of traffic. Although still lower than at YouTube, their audience is growing rapidly.
Second, it's not just a place for news commentators and journalists. All of that is there, but it also fosters a home for gamers, sports enthusiasts, and music artists. As other video sites focus almost exclusively on news, BitChute has opened the door for virtually anyone to contribute and get their content seen.
Also, as YouTube demonetizes nearly every video which deals with political or cultural issues from the wrong perspective, BitChute allows users to 'tip' contributors via Paypal instead. Using this model, content creators have the potential to generate a far greater income and retain complete editorial control over their videos.
So, if you care about freedom of speech in online video, won't you join me on BitChute?