YouTubers pair up with European trade union to demand fair treatment

The YouTubers Union, a community-based movement that fights for the rights of YouTube creators and users, has teamed up with Europe's largest trade union (IG Metall) in a new campaign, called FairTube.

The union is demanding that Google brings back the old YouTube after changes on the platform have impacted how independent creators can make a living.

It is urging YouTube to bring more transparency to the platform by publishing all its procedures and processes that it uses to promote or hide a video and asking it to provide clear explanations as to why a video has been demonetized and which parts of it have violated the guidelines.

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The YouTubers Union, a community-based movement that fights for the rights of YouTube creators and users, has teamed up with Europe's largest trade union (IG Metall) in a new campaign, called FairTube.

We first saw the news via Motherboard.

The two parties are demanding that YouTube's parent firm Google introduce greater transparency to YouTube after various changes on the platform have impacted how independent creators can make a living.

“The real YouTubers that are the reason for YouTube's big success are getting censored, deleted, erased, and hidden. Making a living on YouTube is no longer possible,” one of the leaders of the YouTubers Union, Jörg Sprave, said in the campaign video.

Sprave explained that two years ago, YouTube “turned a dream job into a nightmare,” referring to the so-called Adpocalypse when hundreds of brands pulled their advertising from YouTube after The Times reported their ads were appearing next to extremist videos.

Read more: YouTube has lately struggled to protect its vulnerable creators. Analysts say the platform may lack a business incentive to do anything about it.

YouTube's modifications to address these issues combined with its stringent copyright infringement system has severely impacted how independent creators make a living off the platform, Sprave said.

Sprave's comments tie into a feeling among smaller YouTubers that ads are sometimes removed from their videos, or demonetized, and that their videos are removed altogether without any clear explanation.

A spokesperson for YouTube did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Sprave is joining forces with IG Metall to bring back the old YouTube, he said.

He has outlined six demands online. These include asking YouTube to be more transparent with its procedures and processes that it uses to promote or hide a video and giving clear explanations for decisions such as why a video has been demonetized and which parts of it violated the guidelines.

Sprave has also requested that YouTubers have a contact at the company who is qualified to explain decisions that have negative consequences for YouTubers and fix them if they are wrong. “Let us talk to a human being,” he said.

YouTube has four weeks to respond to their demands.