YouTube Spits In The Face Of Its Users By Refusing To Address Their False Flagging Problem
Go to Google. Do a search for “YouTube False Flagging” or “YouTube False Flagging Problem”. It won’t take you long to find scores of individuals who have been affected by this issue.
So what is False Flagging? While the original meaning has more to do with deceiving an individual or group into believing something that is untrue so as to carry out an agenda (usually in a military or political context); False Flagging has a slightly different meaning with regard to the world of YouTube.
You see, YouTube is a community of users who post and share videos. As with any community (especially communities of the Social Media/Web 2.0 variety), there are inherent rules put in place to serve the best interest of the community. YouTube refers to these rules as “Community Guidelines”. Examples of community guidelines may include things like: no pornography, no hate speech, no commenting excessively on the videos of others for the sheer purpose of advertising your webpage, no spamming, no videos making threats, no predatory behavior/bullying, etc…
When one community member sees another community member who is breaking these rules (or, if a YouTube admin feels like the rules have been broken) then the video that has committed the “crime” is flagged. Once your video has been flagged you receive a warning. If it happens again (within a 6 month period of time) you’re banned from putting up videos for a period of time (usually 2 weeks). If it happens a third time, your account gets shut down.
At face value, this is a sound idea designed to help contribute to the overall wellbeing of the community. But what happens when a video is flagged that has NOT broken the rules of the community? This is what is known as False Flagging and it happens all the time.
Let me say that again. FALSE FLAGGING is when a video has NOT broken any rules, but still gets flagged; and the owner of the video gets a strike against their account, even though they’ve done nothing wrong. This might happen because some moron doesn’t like your video so they decided to flag it (this happens a lot with religious/political videos that people just don’t agree with). Or, maybe it’s your competition and they’re going around flagging all of the videos that compete with their video. Or maybe someone falsely accuses you of copyright infringement under what’s known as the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) like this douche-bag did: YouTube - How DMCA abuse could affect YOU! , or maybe you just caught someone on a bad day and your video was flagged just for the sake of being flagged. Whatever the reason, the FACT is that you did nothing wrong, but your video got flagged and now your account has a strike against it.
And guess what…there’s pretty much NOTHING you can do about it!
Now, you may not think this is such a big deal, but for people like me who have spent YEARSbuilding a channel that has literally hundreds of videos, hundreds of subscribers, thousands of friends, and tens of thousands of views…it represents YEARS of effort being wiped away with the push of a button.
But I’m not the only one:
false flagging = suspended 2 weeks - YouTube Help (check out the discussions on the right hand side)
I am being false flag'ed i have been banned 2 times over this and if i request Suspended account inquiry no reply - YouTube Help
YouTube - How DMCA abuse could affect YOU!
My problem with the whole false flagging thing is not only with the idiots who go around false flagging people’s videos – although they DO deserve blame, the fact of the matter is that jerks will be jerks and there are WAY too many of them to catch – my problem is also with YouTube for not providing a way to allow legitimate rebuttals/appeals of false flagging AND with not penalizing individuals who are caught false flagging so as to dissuade them from doing it anymore.
(Q.) “But Devon, can’t you just contact YouTube and ask them why the video was flagged?”
(A.) Nope…I mean, you can try…but they will NOT talk to you. Don’t believe me? Go ahead, give them a ring and see if you get through. Here’s YouTube’s phone number:
1-650-253-0000 (remember, they’re owned by Google so that’s how they’ll answer the phone)
(Q.) “So you’re telling me that I can’t appeal the flagging?”
(A.) Go ahead, give it a shot submit an appeal after they’ve flagged you and see if you get a response
(Q.) “What about emailing customer support and explaining to them that your video is clearly NOT in conflict with their community guidelines?”
(A.) Go ahead e-mail them and see what kind of response you get
support@youtube.com
copyright@youtube.com
web@youtube.com
(A.) And while you’re at it you can go here and ask them about it on their forum Feedback & Suggestions - YouTube Help
(A.) And then you can go here and try to submit a support ticket
Contact Us - YouTube Help
After you’ve exhausted yourself trying to figure out why YouTube refuses to help the very people who make their site what it is; you may then ask yourself… “but what about the really elite people who have been on YouTube for years and have a bazillion views, friends, and subscribers”?
Well, there’s no course of action for them either….
How do I know? Simple, because I’m one of them. And while I don’t have a “bazillion” videos views; my 200+ videos, 700+ subscribers, 1,400+ friends, and 100,000+ video views are good enough to make my channel amongst the top 20% of YouTube channels and good enough for YouTube to give me “partner” status (which allows me to upload videos longer than 15 minutes and place advertisements on my videos if I want to)
And over the past 2 months my channel (YouTube - renegadesuccess's Channel ) has received 2 different flags. One more, and all of the work I’ve put into my channel since 2009 gets wiped out!
Why have my videos been flagged? I don’t know…no one will tell me. Here’s how my conversation went when I called YouTube to discuss the matter
Me: Hi, my name is Devon Brown and I need to talk with someone in your YouTube department regarding my video being falsely flagged
YT Chick: Sir, there’s no one here that you can talk to, but I can direct you to the website that shows our community guidelines
Me: Look lady, I’ve already been to your site and that’s the problem, its NO HELP. Can someonePLEASE just talk to me about why videos that I put up over a year ago are now magically getting in trouble?
YT Chick: Sir, there’s no one here that you can talk to, but I can direct you to the website that shows our community guidelines
Me: Woman, are you on drugs? You’re not listening to me. Screw your website and let me talk to a human being!!
YT Chick: Sir, there’s no one here that you can talk to, but I can direct you to the website that shows our community guidelines
I think you get the idea…
(Q.) “But Devon, you’re one of their “top tier members/partners”… It’s people like you and channels like yours that help get YouTube all of their traffic. Why would they spit in your face like that and not even allow you a means of even ASKING what you could do to fix your videos”
(A.) Heck if I know. But I do know enough about business to know Pareto’s Principle (a.k.a. the 80/20 rule which states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes).
In YouTube’s case, this means that about 20% of the channels (those who have achieved “partner” status) probably account for 80% of their video views; so it’s probably an especially good idea to not mistreat those individuals
(Q.) But Devon, I checked out your YouTube channel and you’re clearly in the “Home Business” industry. Isn’t that industry is bad and full of scammers?
(A.) LOL, did you just paint an entire industry with one broad brush stroke and lump everyone together? That’s like saying “Aren’t all videos put up by liberals simply designed to help the government takeover and destroy capitalism?” Or, “Aren’t all videos by conservatives just designed to crap on Non-Christians and poor people?” Besides, the question is not “Do you like my industry and/or agree with my point of view?” the question is “Does the video meet the community guidelines?” If the answer to the 2nd question is YES, then there is no need for the video to be flagged.
(Q.) But Devon, wouldn’t it just make more sense for YouTube to tell you WHAT they didn’t like about your video so that you could fix it and make sure that you don’t break the rule again?
(A.) Makes sense to me. But why they don’t operate like that is a mystery to pretty much everyone out there who has been false flagged.
My suggestion is simply this: If for some reason a video is flagged (and a strike placed against the video owner’s account) then YouTube should provide it’s users a legitimate way to dispute the malicious false flagging, AND/OR explain to the video owner WHY they were flagged so that they know not to do it again. The funny thing is that if YouTube were to simply say “here’s how to fix it” the VAST majority of us would willingly comply!
But they don’t…
YouTube would rather ignore the problem and hide from their users. As of the time of this writing, I’ve had to make back ups of ALL of my videos and start using Viddler.com to host videos for people to watch when they visit my blog. And while I realize that in the eyes of YouTube/Google; that I’m just a little ant, and that they could care less whether I use their service or not. The fact of the matter is that “little ants” like me are the ones who make up their community; and they owe it to their community of users to at least address an issue when it arises.
What YouTube needs to understand is that when false flagging occurs (and accounts get shut down) it’s not only hurting the owner of the particular video/account that got in trouble, it’s also hurting the thousands of individuals who enjoy watching videos from the person who created that account/channel.
The truth of the matter is that this problem has been going on for years. But it’s one of those problems that no one really pays attention to until it happens to them.
So, what can we do about it?
Well, you can start by going to the YouTube forum and suggesting that they fix the false flagging problem Feedback & Suggestions - YouTube Help . You can also “Like” this facebook fan-page and keep an eye out for false flagging updates: Youtube False Flagging Sucks | Facebook
Next, if you know anyone from YouTube then email/call them and ask them what the deal is regarding their false flagging policy. You can also use the contact information shown earlier in this article to try to contact YouTube and suggest they offer a way for legitimate channel owners to appeal false flags. Lastly, you can take this article (as long as you do NOT edit it and you leave my name/bio/information in tact) and feel free to repost it all over the internet.
A former YouTube insider told me that while he was working for YouTube, he was trained to NOT help any users who had a problem. So, needless to say, the only way YouTube will pay attention is if enough of us start to make some noise about it.
Hopefully my little article sheds some light on the situation. The sad part is that Google/YouTube have MORE than enough money to hire the small group of people it would take to oversee this problem…and if they are short on funds, I’ll show them a few ideas on how that can make their site a little more profitable so that that can have the enough money to start treating their users with a little bit of respect; as opposed to completely ignoring us and spitting in our faces.
By: Devon Brown
YouTube SUCKS! Won’t Fix False Flagging Problem | Home Business Success Training by Devon Brown
So what is False Flagging? While the original meaning has more to do with deceiving an individual or group into believing something that is untrue so as to carry out an agenda (usually in a military or political context); False Flagging has a slightly different meaning with regard to the world of YouTube.
You see, YouTube is a community of users who post and share videos. As with any community (especially communities of the Social Media/Web 2.0 variety), there are inherent rules put in place to serve the best interest of the community. YouTube refers to these rules as “Community Guidelines”. Examples of community guidelines may include things like: no pornography, no hate speech, no commenting excessively on the videos of others for the sheer purpose of advertising your webpage, no spamming, no videos making threats, no predatory behavior/bullying, etc…
When one community member sees another community member who is breaking these rules (or, if a YouTube admin feels like the rules have been broken) then the video that has committed the “crime” is flagged. Once your video has been flagged you receive a warning. If it happens again (within a 6 month period of time) you’re banned from putting up videos for a period of time (usually 2 weeks). If it happens a third time, your account gets shut down.
At face value, this is a sound idea designed to help contribute to the overall wellbeing of the community. But what happens when a video is flagged that has NOT broken the rules of the community? This is what is known as False Flagging and it happens all the time.
Let me say that again. FALSE FLAGGING is when a video has NOT broken any rules, but still gets flagged; and the owner of the video gets a strike against their account, even though they’ve done nothing wrong. This might happen because some moron doesn’t like your video so they decided to flag it (this happens a lot with religious/political videos that people just don’t agree with). Or, maybe it’s your competition and they’re going around flagging all of the videos that compete with their video. Or maybe someone falsely accuses you of copyright infringement under what’s known as the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) like this douche-bag did: YouTube - How DMCA abuse could affect YOU! , or maybe you just caught someone on a bad day and your video was flagged just for the sake of being flagged. Whatever the reason, the FACT is that you did nothing wrong, but your video got flagged and now your account has a strike against it.
And guess what…there’s pretty much NOTHING you can do about it!
Now, you may not think this is such a big deal, but for people like me who have spent YEARSbuilding a channel that has literally hundreds of videos, hundreds of subscribers, thousands of friends, and tens of thousands of views…it represents YEARS of effort being wiped away with the push of a button.
But I’m not the only one:
false flagging = suspended 2 weeks - YouTube Help (check out the discussions on the right hand side)
I am being false flag'ed i have been banned 2 times over this and if i request Suspended account inquiry no reply - YouTube Help
YouTube - How DMCA abuse could affect YOU!
My problem with the whole false flagging thing is not only with the idiots who go around false flagging people’s videos – although they DO deserve blame, the fact of the matter is that jerks will be jerks and there are WAY too many of them to catch – my problem is also with YouTube for not providing a way to allow legitimate rebuttals/appeals of false flagging AND with not penalizing individuals who are caught false flagging so as to dissuade them from doing it anymore.
(Q.) “But Devon, can’t you just contact YouTube and ask them why the video was flagged?”
(A.) Nope…I mean, you can try…but they will NOT talk to you. Don’t believe me? Go ahead, give them a ring and see if you get through. Here’s YouTube’s phone number:
1-650-253-0000 (remember, they’re owned by Google so that’s how they’ll answer the phone)
(Q.) “So you’re telling me that I can’t appeal the flagging?”
(A.) Go ahead, give it a shot submit an appeal after they’ve flagged you and see if you get a response
(Q.) “What about emailing customer support and explaining to them that your video is clearly NOT in conflict with their community guidelines?”
(A.) Go ahead e-mail them and see what kind of response you get
support@youtube.com
copyright@youtube.com
web@youtube.com
(A.) And while you’re at it you can go here and ask them about it on their forum Feedback & Suggestions - YouTube Help
(A.) And then you can go here and try to submit a support ticket
Contact Us - YouTube Help
After you’ve exhausted yourself trying to figure out why YouTube refuses to help the very people who make their site what it is; you may then ask yourself… “but what about the really elite people who have been on YouTube for years and have a bazillion views, friends, and subscribers”?
Well, there’s no course of action for them either….
How do I know? Simple, because I’m one of them. And while I don’t have a “bazillion” videos views; my 200+ videos, 700+ subscribers, 1,400+ friends, and 100,000+ video views are good enough to make my channel amongst the top 20% of YouTube channels and good enough for YouTube to give me “partner” status (which allows me to upload videos longer than 15 minutes and place advertisements on my videos if I want to)
And over the past 2 months my channel (YouTube - renegadesuccess's Channel ) has received 2 different flags. One more, and all of the work I’ve put into my channel since 2009 gets wiped out!
Why have my videos been flagged? I don’t know…no one will tell me. Here’s how my conversation went when I called YouTube to discuss the matter
Me: Hi, my name is Devon Brown and I need to talk with someone in your YouTube department regarding my video being falsely flagged
YT Chick: Sir, there’s no one here that you can talk to, but I can direct you to the website that shows our community guidelines
Me: Look lady, I’ve already been to your site and that’s the problem, its NO HELP. Can someonePLEASE just talk to me about why videos that I put up over a year ago are now magically getting in trouble?
YT Chick: Sir, there’s no one here that you can talk to, but I can direct you to the website that shows our community guidelines
Me: Woman, are you on drugs? You’re not listening to me. Screw your website and let me talk to a human being!!
YT Chick: Sir, there’s no one here that you can talk to, but I can direct you to the website that shows our community guidelines
I think you get the idea…
(Q.) “But Devon, you’re one of their “top tier members/partners”… It’s people like you and channels like yours that help get YouTube all of their traffic. Why would they spit in your face like that and not even allow you a means of even ASKING what you could do to fix your videos”
(A.) Heck if I know. But I do know enough about business to know Pareto’s Principle (a.k.a. the 80/20 rule which states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes).
In YouTube’s case, this means that about 20% of the channels (those who have achieved “partner” status) probably account for 80% of their video views; so it’s probably an especially good idea to not mistreat those individuals
(Q.) But Devon, I checked out your YouTube channel and you’re clearly in the “Home Business” industry. Isn’t that industry is bad and full of scammers?
(A.) LOL, did you just paint an entire industry with one broad brush stroke and lump everyone together? That’s like saying “Aren’t all videos put up by liberals simply designed to help the government takeover and destroy capitalism?” Or, “Aren’t all videos by conservatives just designed to crap on Non-Christians and poor people?” Besides, the question is not “Do you like my industry and/or agree with my point of view?” the question is “Does the video meet the community guidelines?” If the answer to the 2nd question is YES, then there is no need for the video to be flagged.
(Q.) But Devon, wouldn’t it just make more sense for YouTube to tell you WHAT they didn’t like about your video so that you could fix it and make sure that you don’t break the rule again?
(A.) Makes sense to me. But why they don’t operate like that is a mystery to pretty much everyone out there who has been false flagged.
My suggestion is simply this: If for some reason a video is flagged (and a strike placed against the video owner’s account) then YouTube should provide it’s users a legitimate way to dispute the malicious false flagging, AND/OR explain to the video owner WHY they were flagged so that they know not to do it again. The funny thing is that if YouTube were to simply say “here’s how to fix it” the VAST majority of us would willingly comply!
But they don’t…
YouTube would rather ignore the problem and hide from their users. As of the time of this writing, I’ve had to make back ups of ALL of my videos and start using Viddler.com to host videos for people to watch when they visit my blog. And while I realize that in the eyes of YouTube/Google; that I’m just a little ant, and that they could care less whether I use their service or not. The fact of the matter is that “little ants” like me are the ones who make up their community; and they owe it to their community of users to at least address an issue when it arises.
What YouTube needs to understand is that when false flagging occurs (and accounts get shut down) it’s not only hurting the owner of the particular video/account that got in trouble, it’s also hurting the thousands of individuals who enjoy watching videos from the person who created that account/channel.
The truth of the matter is that this problem has been going on for years. But it’s one of those problems that no one really pays attention to until it happens to them.
So, what can we do about it?
Well, you can start by going to the YouTube forum and suggesting that they fix the false flagging problem Feedback & Suggestions - YouTube Help . You can also “Like” this facebook fan-page and keep an eye out for false flagging updates: Youtube False Flagging Sucks | Facebook
Next, if you know anyone from YouTube then email/call them and ask them what the deal is regarding their false flagging policy. You can also use the contact information shown earlier in this article to try to contact YouTube and suggest they offer a way for legitimate channel owners to appeal false flags. Lastly, you can take this article (as long as you do NOT edit it and you leave my name/bio/information in tact) and feel free to repost it all over the internet.
A former YouTube insider told me that while he was working for YouTube, he was trained to NOT help any users who had a problem. So, needless to say, the only way YouTube will pay attention is if enough of us start to make some noise about it.
Hopefully my little article sheds some light on the situation. The sad part is that Google/YouTube have MORE than enough money to hire the small group of people it would take to oversee this problem…and if they are short on funds, I’ll show them a few ideas on how that can make their site a little more profitable so that that can have the enough money to start treating their users with a little bit of respect; as opposed to completely ignoring us and spitting in our faces.
By: Devon Brown
YouTube SUCKS! Won’t Fix False Flagging Problem | Home Business Success Training by Devon Brown
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