Behind the Curtain of the Three-Day Demonetization

Happy to day to everyone here with us today! We've gained a large number of folks who want to be a part of understanding the behind-the-scenes journalism we do and that's fantastic! I want to let you know that we have plans to integrate this Patreon in the future with ThatParkPlace.com and I believe you'll all really enjoy that.

As for the demonetization of the WDW Pro Channel which lasted three days, I was contacted by two major players on YouTube. I didn't reach out to these individuals, and I didn't know they were advocating on my behalf behind the scenes. It's a huge lift to know that people are supporting you quietly, from a distance, with no incentive to their own success other than just morality. What a great thing to see in times such as ours!

While I do not believe (based on what we have seen) that YouTube even really reviewed the appeal, it seems they made a decision in the early-morning hours of Tuesday to reinstate the channel. I sincerely believe that was due to the outcry from our community -- thousands joined in and I'm in awe. That said, I'd like to share what these two YouTube archons had to say about what their contacts said had happened. Please understand that as I share this, I am not going to reveal the YouTube personalities and I am not going to reveal who said what. This comes from them, not from YouTube as well, so technically it is rumor and speculation received from third parties.

According to the two individuals who reached out (when their stories are combined), the WDW Pro Channel was the target of a mass false flag campaign to try to take down our content. This false flag campaign targeted two videos on the channel, both beyond what we normally cover in terms of entertainment-specific areas of interest. Due to this false flag campaign, YouTube automatically triggered the demonetization of the channel. 

Of course, once that happened, I believed it would be 90 days before we had the channel back. I didn't anticipate that the platform would allow us back on because "reused content" is a tool which is almost impossible to defend against. We've all reused content -- whether that is video clips from the news, trailers, old content that we use in a new way, Steamboat Willie parodies, clips from other channels that they have given permission for us to use, etc. "Reused content" is purely arbitrary in its use against channels. But somehow, someway, you all turned the tide. And for that, we are grateful.

But I wanted to let all of you know that it was, indeed, and according to extremely generous sources with huge followings, a false flag campaign against the channel. I'm not claiming that to be Disney... in fact, I doubt it is. I'll let you ponder who then it might be.