YouTube bans educational hacking and phishing videos

Censorship is sweeping across the Internet as more and more tech giants are taking harsher measures against certain views and topics. Apparently, YouTube is now banning instructional hacking and phishing videos. Security researcher Kody Kinzie discovered he's no longer able to upload new videos to YouTube because his channel received a strike because they teach about hacking. Showing users how to bypass secure computer systems is an activity that is now no longer allowed by YouTube.

In a response to The Verge, YouTube claims the takedown of the white hat hacking channel was accidental and notes the videos have been reinstated. YouTube says the rule isn't new but it's not exactly clear why certain videos get deleted and others not.

In a subsequent comment, a YouTube spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that Cyber Weapons Lab’s channel was flagged by mistake and the videos have since been reinstated. “With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call,” the spokesperson said. “We have an appeals process in place for users, and when it’s brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it.”

We made a video about launching fireworks over Wi-Fi for the 4th of July only to find out @YouTube gave us a strike because we teach about hacking, so we can't upload it.

YouTube now bans: "Instructional hacking and phishing: Showing users how to bypass secure computer systems"

— Kody (@KodyKinzie) 2 juli 2019