Always back up your material, always have a copy of your favorites, and always remember Google-Alphabet has been performing
lingchi since
they hard blocked Pirate Bay from Google Search results.
Alphabet-Google has already scrambled to clarify they "won't be deleting YouTube videos", but that seems fundamentally contrary to other statements they've put out. Rolling Stone said, "
A representative from Google clarified to Rolling Stone that the policy update does not include plans to delete accounts with YouTube videos." The YouTube "Creator Liaison" is already saying YouTube (no idea about Google overall)
has no plans to delete YouTube content. Notice the weasel words of
"we may delete the accounts and content" in this statement and any other I've seen so far. There seems to be no clear idea about what will actually be deleted outside dummy accounts that were created and used once—which, I personally believe, have just as much right to exist.
Under this policy, it is possible
Me at the zoo could be removed. How is activity measured and content weighed against the sword of deletion?
This could just be conflict between the heads of the hydra though. I've never seen Alphabet-Google pull off any YouTube overhaul well. Outside the issues with YouTube, the policy is also fundamentally bad if you don't believe outright malicious. There are plenty of legitimate reasons someone would not be able to access their account for far longer than two years. At sea or doing charity work in some distance place? Better have a connection because Alphabet-Google (and you should really call this modern chimera Alphabet-Google because it was subsumed) says screw you! In a coma or simply unreachable? You're going to need to assign an executor for your Google account. YouTube's entire purpose is as an archive with a small upper current of recent content that sinks down into the archive.
Present Social Media is ultimately interested in the construction of the "eternal present" that is always malleable. The only objective is a slurry of content that coheres to the current vogue. Twitter and Instagram both purposefully destroyed chronological feeds for that reason. There are of course many reasons for that, but it is ultimately easier for a website to manicure their reputation and userbase if they are just a feed of ephemeral content. Anything on it can be removed and quickly replaced before anyone can make note of it. The purpose is to eliminate any historical buildup that might produce a digital cultural bubble or community. Remember when you could PM people directly on YouTube? Remember channel backgrounds? Remember reply videos? You can now no longer sort by oldest videos because, as Alphabet-Google seems to believe, you only need the NOW videos on TRENDING (also, as everyone knows, heavily moderated and curated).
I remember Rusty Cage, I believe, once joked that, if they could get away with it, Alphabet-Google would just replace YouTube with a feed of flashing colors with ads on it. If they could, they would.
Darkling Down all the way: "For the fun or for the money / For the fuck of it or just because"