YouTube announced it will be updating its terms of service in December to give itself control to delete accounts and videos at its own discretion.
“YouTube is under no obligation to host or serve content,” the company said in its new terms of service. The new terms also state that the company can “terminate” users’ “access” to their accounts if YouTube determines at “its sole discretion” that an account “is no longer commercially viable.”
A representative for YouTube said Monday that changes in its terms of service were made “in order to make them easier to read and to ensure they’re up to date.”
“We’re not changing the way our products work, how we collect or process data, or any of your settings,” the representative added.
The new line of “sole discretion” is an update from YouTube, which has said they could delete accounts if they “reasonably believe” they are not commercially viable. The updated wording received criticism online from YouTubers who saw it as another step in tech companies censoring users.
YouTube also updated its terms of service to require parental permission for minors to use the platform.
“We have stated the specific age requirements for your country, reflecting our Google wide policies, and included a notice that, if you are a minor in your country, you must always have your parent or guardian’s permission before using the Service,” the company stated.
