Dan Bongino, a conservative radio host, has been kicked off the video sharing website.
According to a statement provided to Mashable, Dan Bongino's channels were terminated for circumventing our Terms of Service by posting a video while there was an active strike and suspension associated with the account. The uploader can't use, own or create any other YouTube channels if a channel is terminated.
Bongino tried to evade a temporary suspension by posting content, which resulted in a permanent ban.
One of Dan Bongino's channels has almost one million subscribers.
Bongino violated the video platform's COVID-19 misinformation policies when he posted a video that claimed masks were useless. The strike was caused by the violation. After receiving one strike, YouTube suspends the user from posting for a week.
A two-week suspension is given to a user who accumulates two strikes. If there are three strikes, the channel is terminated. Strikes last for 90 days, allowing for some wiggle room for repeat offenders.
If Bongino waited out the week suspension for his first strike, he would be able to post content on YouTube again.
Bongino uploaded content to a secondary channel he ran, Dan Bongino Show Clips. In its terms of service, YouTube explicitly prohibits ban evasion.
If your channel has been restricted due to a strike, you must not use another channel to circumvent it.
However, at the time, YouTube hit Bongino's secondary channel with its own strike for the ban evasion and for also violating its COVID-19 misinformation policies.
Bongino went back to his main channel after a violation on his secondary channel, instead of waiting out the week-long suspension.
The permanent ban from YouTube was caused by these repeated violations.
Bongino has other platforms where he can go, because he is a powerhouse in the online conservative media-osphere. Each day, his Facebook page is one of the top-performing on the social network.
Bongino's most likely replacement will be a video platform that has become very popular with conservatives over the last year. The Dan Bongino Show has over 2 million subscribers.
Bongino's ban from YouTube will likely cause a backlash among his conservative audience, who have been searching for alternative platforms since Donald Trump was banned from social media. Bongino's Rumble channel will be even bigger because of this.
Bongino's subscriber numbers will be helped by driving his audience to Rumble. Bongino is an investor.
