The Friendly Face of Canadian Cannabis Censored by YouTube
420 Weekend and what can go wrong?
I had heard rumblings earlier this week of some YouTube censorship coming down the pipe, and to my surprise while checking my IG; I saw one of our community members had been deleted by YouTube! Texting Kushbury “WTF?” Deleted by YouTube? First FaceBook with their fiasco, and now YouTube censorship, Big Brother is watching!
Now just a little background on Kushbury, in case you have not heard of him. He is a mild mannered cannabis reviewer, that presents items in a very professional and educational format. His site did have a 19+ age verification and had never had a warning from YouTube prior to this.
Kushbury first started his YouTube channel in 2014, as this former Fitness Trainer began a new journey as a medical patient. Kushbury was having difficulty finding information on how to properly medicate and he wanted to share this information with others in the same situation. Overtime, Kushbury was posting his own journey of discovery with others, eventually becoming a knowledgeable and popular source in cannabis awareness.
Until this weekend when it all came to a screeching halt!
I asked Kushbury what exactly did YouTube tell you?
"This is the email I received this morning. It came in around 4:30am and informed me that my YouTube account had been suspended for repeated or severe violations of YouTube's Community Guidelines. I can't tell you the feeling it gave me to see that my years of hard work had been deleted at the whim of a corporation. By a corporation that does not even hold up to its own code of conduct of providing a platform for educators, and informers, and silences the messages they do not agree with. My in box has been filled today with emails from viewers and subscribers wanting to know what happened? Over 5,000 subscribers, 260 videos and a million views gone in the blink of an eye!"
"Canada currently has a very robust medical cannabis program, which I am a part of and in less than four months Cannabis becomes federal legal for recreational consumption. This is going to mean a HUGE paradigm shift needs to take place with companies that wish to maintain an international audience. When a company like YouTube refuses to change with the times a few things happen; new better platforms emerge like theweedtube.com, and d.tube, then we start to see an overall decline of the foothold held by the old guard. And that is hardly ever a bad thing."
"I have appealed the decision and hopefully YouTube will figure it out that I'm not out to destroy the world one joint at a time, rather I'm trying to heal it through brownies, extracts and beautiful flower we call cannabis."
@kushbury IG / Twitter
Now it’s Monday and I have heard a few others have been added to the roster of “Delete” from YouTube. If you would like to sound off, please reach out to us at editor@highcanada.net
High! Canada does not agree with censorship.