Hobby chemists fall foul of YouTube's content purge
Platform’s removal of home experiments and synthesis tutorial videos worries hobby chemists
YouTube’s recent crackdown on inappropriate content has begun to target hobby chemists using the video hosting site. As the platform struggles to moderate the more than 300 hours of video that are uploaded every minute, it is not only purging fake news and terrorist recruitment, but also deleting entire chemistry channels. ‘I’m starting to worry that YouTube might decide that they want to remove all science,’ says NurdRage, a PhD chemist who publishes synthesis videos.
More and more scientists are using social media to engage the public with their work, some even gaining internet stardom by filming everyday lab work. Hobby chemists have taken to Reddit and YouTube to discuss their work with others or share successful experiments. However, some of the hobby chemists’ community’s favourite YouTubers have come under fire for their content, which ranges from syntheses using household chemicals to energetic materials.