YouTube’s terms of service now ban linking to social media sites

Users who break the rule repeatedly risk having their accounts terminated, according to a support page.<br><br>‘This includes links to other YouTube videos or channels. You can only link to other websites, such as a personal blog, an external website, or your social media pages.’<br><br>‘We only allow the following external links: • Linking to your membership or Patreon page; • Linking to your merchandise sales; • Linking to a paid digital product (for example, an e-book or video); • Linking to a paid course that you have created,’ it said.<br><br>‘This means you will need to remove any external links from your channel, video descriptions, cards, and comments, and any link to your other YouTube videos or channels. You can also use our branded merchandise, memberships, and Super Chat features to promote your merchandise, memberships, and paid digital goods,’ the page said.<br><br>The post drew more than 8,000 comments, most expressing their anger and confusion.<br><br>‘If they want to remove links from other YouTube channels and videos, I can understand. But other social media, merchandise and patreon is what makes this platform run for creators. It makes no sense at all to me that they are imposing this rule. What is the justification behind this rule?’ one user said.<br><br>‘This is absolutely ridiculous. I don’t even understand the logic behind this… I thought they wanted to promote creators, not kill them,’ said another.