Things are changing for YouTube and content providers. The part that is making headlines is the section titled "Notice for Termination or Suspension". You can find the new December T&C here (YouTube T&C Link).
The specific language of this section:
YouTube may terminate your access, or your Google account’s access to all or part of the Service if YouTube believes, in its sole discretion, that provision of the Service to you is no longer commercially viable.
The two key words are "Sole Discretion" and "Commercially Viable" (four words?).
- Sole Discretion: you are the only person with the freedom to decide how to act or what should be done in a particular situation (Translegal)
- Commercially Viable: the ability of a business, product, or service to compete effectively and to make a profit (Cambridge Dictionary)
If something is not making a profit, it should and can be cut in any business. YT has to make money, how much storage is full of videos that are taking up space and costing YT money. YT owns the platform not the content makers. So I think YT has Sole Discretion to cut out anything that is costing them and not making them money.
If something is not making them money, then it is not commercially viable.
Content providers do not own YT. Google does. I think it is within their rights to use the platform as they please.
If people are paying for a server hosting and distributing their own content, then people have control of their own content. When putting content on someone else's service (Facebook, YouTube), that you are not paying for, the provider (FB, YT etc) own it. Not the content creator.
Will this new T&C be misused. ABSOLUTELY.
Why surprised.