Every person in the modern technological world has certainly heard of and most likely used YouTube within the last week. Mainstream companies like YouTube have become the bread and butter of entertainment, online social engagement and much more. Many small video producers even rely on YouTube for a large portion of their annual income. But taking a deeper look, we see that, once again, blockchain has not left these familiar companies untouched.
From adult-content to hate-speech, YouTube has begun to take a firmer stance on flagging and filtering inappropriate material. The company has taken it on themselves to censor material freely posted on their site. As we can imagine, however, not all are pleased with the idea of a large-scale cooperation looking over their backs and telling them what they can and cannot post.
Heralding free speech, hordes of video producers have not wasted a moment in pulling away from the established companies and turning toward blockchain to provide a futuristic solution.
They have not been let down.
A new, upstart company, similar in appearance and feel to YouTube itself, called DTube has jumped on the blockchain bandwagon. Focusing on donations instead of ad revenue, DTube uses the blockchain Steem network, operating through crypto-tokens instead of the centralized US dollar. Not only is this helping to decentralize its platform, the use of cryptocurrencies is also attracting technologically motivated users.
Decentralized platforms such as DTube are working hard to give their users privacy and freedom, eliminating the censorship of the established companies. As more and more creators and producers turn to them for further freedom, a growing portion of users may see the benefits of these new systems. While sites such as YouTube may still be dominating the online network, they’ll be keeping a close eye on the alternatives that blockchain technology is providing to the free market.