>“We terminated these channels as it’s still against our rules for previously terminated users to start new channels,” according to the company. “The pilot program for terminations that many people have been referencing this week isn’t available yet and will be a limited pilot program to start. We’ll have more on how the program will work, who is eligible, and how creators can access it soon.“

Pretty straightforward.

If their only complaint is free speech then they should try Rumble [1], assuming it's not really about affiliate programs and monetization. Some streamers are streaming to both Youtube and Rumble so they have a backup plan to reach their audience. Rumble chat is far less restrictive than Youtube chat for now.

[1] - https://rumble.com/

I often wonder what the substantive risk is here. On the one hand, like I expect the media I interact with to vibe with me. I think if I logged into youtube and it looked like Rumble, I wouldn't use it. Not out of principal, not because I hate free speech, but it's like browsing the channels on the tv. I pick websites I vibe with and not ones I don't. But if you could make the front page show me the things I do vibe with, cabin porn and all that, I probably wouldn't care if Alex Jones was there?

And maybe this is part of the point, do you want it to be in the air that Youtube is the place you go to listen to Alex Jones and Nick Fuentes? If that was in the air, again, I would probably just organically move away from it. But this is just a numbers game, there are far more things in this world that I don't participate then that I do participate in, and youtube would obviously prefer that I choose to participate there.