“We confirm that we have no plans to remove accounts with YouTube videos,” he clarified. On twitter Rene Ritchie, in charge of creator relations at YouTube.
The latter had been hit with a wind of panic when Google, the owner of the video streaming platform, had announced that it would remove the old inactive accounts. Many netizens feared that the old videos would also be destroyed along with the account that posted them.
A potential colossal loss for web culture
In practice, if it had been applied, this policy would have meant the loss of a part of the web culture. He could have deleted, for example, the first YouTube video, posted by a user who has not been active since April 24, 2005, according to his profile.
“It annoys me that companies plan to completely delete personal content just because someone has been gone too long.” was outraged for example, an Internet user. “I’ve always appreciated how the internet can be a kind of memorial to people who would otherwise have been forgotten. It’s like breaking a tombstone.”
But the worried were therefore reassured. Google’s new policy states that starting in December 2023, any account that hasn’t been used for more than two years will be automatically deleted. But the accounts that host videos will not be affected, the social network now ensures. The blog post announcing the changes has also been updated accordingly.
Source: BFM TV
