A YouTube channel of bitcoin magazine was blocked for three hours. The publication attributed this ban to the algorithm of YouTube. The video site may have flagged the word “Kazakhstan” during a panel discussion. The magazine provided this information on a Twitter post published on January 12. It said its livestream event was blocked midway while being broadcast to 56,600 viewers. It says there was no early warning about this blockade from the video platform.
Content Related to the Crypto Topics Only
The event was related to the crypto topics like bitcoin mining, Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and Kazakhstan’s Internet blackout. The last one was the result of government response to control the mass protests caused by increasing fuel prices. The magazine is not sure what ground YouTube used to block its event. The account was restored after an hour of submitting an appeal, suggesting the video platform may have realized the account being banned in error.
Use of a Current Politically Hot Word
Alex MacShane, the host of the livestream event noted that YouTube may have blocked its event because of the use of “K” word during the discussion. The matter related to the effects of Internet blackout in that country. The magazine’s account was restored after an hour of submitting an appeal. Alex discussed this event’s blocking and reinstatement in another live broadcast. He noted the panel was holding discussion on what effects an Internet blackout will have on the hash rate of BTC mining. No controversial thing was being said but the panel was using some current politically and algorithmically charged words. The automated shutdown may have been triggered by these words.
Even with such strict content policies, several search results on YouTube show many livestream events that flout these policies. Some of these events promote scams like crypto giveaways.
