Sandeep Maheshwari’s open letter to the ‘Dictator’ YouTube India

Sandeep Maheshwari is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur and inspiration among millions and his not for profit YouTube channel has over 20 million subscribers. It’s the world’s largest not for profit YouTube channel.

Today, Sandeep Maheshwari wrote an open letter to YouTube India after the recent update to their Terms of Service and Sandeep Maheshwari has a problem with this:

YouTube’s right to monetize: YouTube has the right to monetize all content on the platform and ads may appear on videos from channels not in the YouTube Partner Program

Here’s the open letter to YouTube by Sandeep Maheshwari:

I would like to report a major grievance against an unfair change in the policies of YouTube. I am sure you will understand and agree that the primary reason behind the success of your company is the quality of content that’s available on YouTube.

But the point is who creates this content? It’s content creators like us who put our heart and soul into it. We invest all our time, money, and energy in creating something extraordinary because we feel that YouTube is our partner and not a dictator.

Youtube introduced a big change in its Terms of Service w.e.f. 1st June 2021 for the “right to monetize all content on the platform” by virtue of which it seeks to run ads on channels which do not even want to participate in the YouTube Partner Program.

I am one of the largest content creators on YouTube with more than 20 million subscribers. My channel is not-for-profit. My seminars are absolutely free to attend and free to watch. No charges. No advertising. No sponsorship. No promotion of any kind. I do it simply because I love doing it and millions of people are getting tremendous benefit out of it.

To be honest, I love YouTube but I hate ads because it distracts my audience from the point that I am trying to explain. Would you guys agree to run an ad in the middle of your presentation in your conference room? Definitely not. Similarly, I don’t want any kind of ads on my lectures/speeches/videos.

But now, because of the updated Terms of Service, YouTube will be forcefully running ads on my channel even though I am not interested in monetizing my videos. Moreover, YouTube will be keeping 100% of the ad revenue through MY COPYRIGHT PROTECTED CONTENT. Does it make sense? Is it fair? Is it a partnership or dictatorship?

Please try to understand this situation from the Content Creator’s perspective with a cool and calm mind. The solution is simple. Just like YouTube has a Premium Subscription Plan for users who would like to watch videos without ads, similarly, you can introduce a Premium Monthly Subscription Service for Content Creators like ma who would like to keep their channels free from advertising.

I will be more than happy to pay you a few thousand rupees every month for such a service. It’s going to be a win-win situation for the platform as well as the Content Creator. YouTube gets a recurring monthly income and Content Creators get the freedom to choose whether to earn through ads or to pay a reasonable amount on a monthly/yearly basis in order to get freedom from ads.

I am sure you will understand my perspective and come out with the best possible solution for the same!

Looking forward to your support.

Thanks and Regards,

Sandeep Maheshwari

I hope YouTube will understand Sandeep Maheshwari and they will think again about their decision.

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