Skip to main content

YOUTUBE REMOVES R. KELLY'S CHANNELS; RETAINS SONGS

YouTube Removes R. Kelly’s Channels, But Still Offers His Songs

R. Kelly

R. Kelly

YouTube has banned R. Kelly from its video platform, taking an unusual step to distance itself from the disgraced recording artist recently convicted of sex crimes. In September, R. Kelly was convicted of nine counts by a federal jury in New York, including racketeering, sex trafficking and the sexual exploitation of a child. Deleting a channel for a person’s behavior in the real world is unusual, but not unprecedented for YouTube, which strives to present itself as an open platform for a variety of creators and viewpoints. The video site introduced a policy in 2018 to penalize creators for behavior off the platform. Creators have faced punishment if they do anything that could “cause malicious harm to others” or participating in abuse or violence.

YouTube said it removed channels in 2018 and 2019 on similar grounds, including those of Larry Nassar, Family of Five and Austin Jones. 

The music industry revolted in 2018 when Spotify Technology SA punished artists for their behavior. The Swedish streaming giant said it would stop promoting music from artists who engaged in hateful behavior and misconduct. It started by scrubbing R. Kelly and rapper XXXTentacion from its playlists, though users could still listen to those artists by searching for songs. 

Industry leaders and artists criticized the company in private, claiming it was unfairly punishing individual artists. Playlists are one of the most common ways for users to find music. Spotify reversed the policy after just a month.

The world’s largest video platform on Tuesday banned two channels linked to the singer, according to a memo from YouTube’s head of legal, Nicole Alston. Those channels, R. Kelly TV and R. Kelly Vevo, are offline, giving users a message that the “account has been terminated for a violation of YouTube’s Terms  of Service.” However, Google’s YouTube will continue to offer Kelly’s catalog on its audio streaming service, YouTube Music.

“Egregious actions committed by R. Kelly warrant penalties beyond standard enforcement measures due to a potential to cause widespread harm,” Alston wrote in her memo. “Ultimately we are taking this action to protect our users similar to other platforms.” Kelly will no longer be able to use, own or create YouTube channels, she added.

We can confirm that we have terminated two channels linked to R. Kelly in accordance with our creator responsibility guidelines,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Countries Accepting Nigerians Seeking Second Citizenship

  Countries Accepting Nigerians Seeking Second Citizenship Nigerians are able to access the following citizenship and immigration programs: The Caribbean Second Citizenship Programs, Caribbean nations like St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia and Grenada offer second citizenship through their respective Citizenship-by-Investment programs. A holder of one of these passports may travel visa free to about 135 countries, including all European Union countries, the UK, Russia, Turkey, Singapore and Hong Kong. Holding a citizenship from one of these respected countries may also make it easier to obtain residency status or study in other countries, and allows political security and makes it easier to open bank accounts in foreign jurisdictions. To qualify, an applicant needs to be of good reputation and make a government donation of at least $100,000 USD after approval of their citizenship application.  Approval of a Citizenship-by-Investment application normally takes about 3 months, and all de

AKURE OBASHIP: OBA AGUNSOYEBIOYINBO ADEMUAGUN ADESIDA 11 BROUGHT CLASS AND DIGNITY TO THE THRONE

      AKURE OBASHIP: OBA AGUNSOYEBIOYINBO ADEMUAGUN ADESIDA 11 BROUGHT CLASS AND DIGNITY TO THE THRONE                 By Sunday Ajibola There are men and there are men. Man gets to positions of power and authority and bring to bear their inner qualities. Position, as we have it here, is used to do all sorts of things; good and bad. But mostly and vexatiously, position blinds us as we use it to cheat and deny others their rights. Certain men understand that position is an opportunity to etch their names in gold and put such in the sand of time.   It is exactly fifty years today that the 42nd Deji of Akure, late Oba Agunsoyebioyinbo Ademuagun Adesida 11 joined his ancestors. That fateful day was Sunday and in the evening; darkness was just enveloping the city. It was the strange shouts of "opo ye o, opo ye o, opo ye o", that prompted me to rush out of our house at Oke aro. I saw people running helter, skelter. I did not bother about them. I was looking for the "electric

$100 MILLION STOLEN BY HACKERS IN CRYPTO HEIST

  Hackers steal nearly $100m in Japan crypto heist IMAGE SOURCE, Liquid has been hit by hackers, with almost $100m (£73m) estimated to have been stolen. Leading Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid has been hit by hackers, with almost $100m (£73m) estimated to have been stolen.  The company announced that some of its digital currency wallets have been "compromised." It is the second major theft of cryptocurrencies to take place in recent days.                 Last week, digital token platform Poly Network was at the centre of a $600m heist. "WE ARE SORRY TO ANNOUNCE THAT #LIQUIDGLOBAL WARM WALLETS WERE COMPROMISED, WE ARE MOVING ASSETS INTO THE COLD WALLET," THE COMPANY SAID ON TWITTER. So-called 'warm' or 'hot' digital wallets are usually based online and designed to allow users to access their cryptocurrencies more easily, while 'cold' wallets are offline and harder to access and therefore usually more secure.