---
title: "YouTube Calls Mass Deletion of Cryptocurrency Videos a Mistake"
description: "YouTube has restored hundreds of cryptocurrency videos after a deletion earlier this week, claiming it was all a mistake."
date: "2019-12-27"
modified: "2020-02-13"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/youtube-mass-deletion-cryptocurrency-videos-mistake"
categories:
  - "Blockchain"
  - "Cryptocurrency"
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "censorship"
  - "cryptocurrency"
  - "the digest"
  - "YouTube"
---

# YouTube Calls Mass Deletion of Cryptocurrency Videos a Mistake

![YouTube deleted hundreds of cryptocurrency videos earlier this week. Now it says they're back and called the whole thing a mistake.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/youtube-mass-deletion-cryptocurrency-videos-mistake.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## CTRL-Z

Earlier this week, YouTube [deleted](<https://cointelegraph.com/news/cryptocurrency-influencers-speak-out-on-youtube-deleting-crypto-related-content>) hundreds of videos from several dozen cryptocurrency-focused channels.

YouTube has since restored the videos, with a spokesperson [telling *Gizmodo*](<https://gizmodo.com/youtube-restores-hundreds-of-cryptocurrency-videos-afte-1840677798>) that the deletion was a mistake — but the entire situation raises questions about how YouTube moderates its platform and decides what's allowed on it.

## Whoopsie

Before taking the videos down, YouTube mistakenly flagged the clips as "harmful or dangerous content" and "sale of unregulated goods."

"With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call," a YouTube spokesperson told *Gizmodo*.

But the company didn't share whether the flags were the result of a technical error, such as an algorithmic glitch, a coordinated human effort, or [some other mistake](<https://futurism.com/youtube-removing-battlebots-videos-animal-cruelty>).

## Weighing In

The deletion may not have come out of nowhere, either — crypto content creators [told *CoinDesk*](<https://www.coindesk.com/youtube-calls-crypto-purge-a-mistake-but-many-videos-still-missing>) that they felt like YouTube has been targeting or excessively scrutinizing them as of late.

YouTuber Chris Dunn added that some of his reinstated videos have already been deleted again, suggesting that things aren't about to get easier for people chatting about or plugging crypto on their channels.

**READ MORE:** [YouTube Restores Hundreds of Cryptocurrency Videos After Flagging Them as Harmful](<https://gizmodo.com/youtube-restores-hundreds-of-cryptocurrency-videos-afte-1840677798>) \[*Gizmodo*\]

**More on YouTube moderation:** *[To Fight Pedophiles, YouTube Disables Comments on Videos Featuring Kids](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/youtube-comments-disabled-videos-kids>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)