Tron’s Takeover of Steemit Is Internet History Repeating Itself

Valerian Bennett is managing director of the Pop Network Foundation, which is dedicated to helping creators and communities find their freedom by decentralizing the streaming economy. He is a graduate of the BoostVC accelerator (Tribe 8) and limited partner at Amentum Capital.

On Dec. 23, 2019, as many around the world were settling into the Christmas holiday, a crypto disaster struck. Google-owned YouTube, the largest streaming media site on the web, started banning scores of content creators related to blockchain and cryptocurrency.

The outrage was swift and justified.

Many on Crypto YouTube, like Chris Dunn and IvanOnTech, have spent years developing their brands and building massive content libraries while attracting a large number of followers … all to have the result of their own labor arbitrarily taken from them. For some, like Alex Saunders, the purge had the effect of shutting down his primary business and financially threatening his family.

Even Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin had some of his cryptocurrency research videos removed under the bizarre label of “Harmful or dangerous content.”

Then, just as quickly as the purge happened, it stopped. After days of unrest, YouTube announced the whole thing was a mistake and that everything would go back to normal.