Ah, YouTube. How you used to be on a pedestal for many who were sick of regular TV. Now, you can’t think of the platform without being made painfully aware of the controversies that hover over it like a dark cloud.

You may or may not know it, but I have a YouTube channel too! I wanted to get comfortable talking in front of a camera and I also figured that filming might be a better way to convey some of my thoughts. Some of my earlier videos on the channel can show that I still have a long way to go as far as honing my film skills goes.

When the “Adpocalypse” happened, I wasn’t too concerned: I wasn’t reliant on ads for income (a privilege I am careful to take care with) and, if anything, glad that I wasn’t fully dependent on making YouTube videos as my main source of income. As much as I envy the big channels who make bank just filming and editing content to upload, I know YouTube isn’t permanent – it’s slowly morphing into regular TV with more companies setting up their own channels and adding content to compete for views.

Then came the wave of silencing”haters” filing false copyright claims. Despite numerous complaints and call-outs from its user base, YouTube refuses to revise its current copyright claims system, allowing essentially YouTubers to silence those who try to call them out or companies to make bank on original content by claiming that they were the rightful creators of content when all they really did is a remix.

And the party that claims the copyright infringement usually gets the ad revenue as a result – the burden of proof is on the accused, who can only contest the claims to an extent before their channel gets shut down.

So to protest this, I’ve decided to shut down my YouTube channel. Of course, I don’t expect YouTube to suddenly stop as a result – it’s just too big to fail at this point, really. There are always going to be people who want to be the next big name in visual media and YouTube is, at the moment, the easiest point of entry with little to no startup money required. I’m going to shut down the channel by February 14 – I’m hoping to film a quick video for the 13 subscribers that I have (ironically, they are still hanging on despite me not uploading for at least a year now) as a courtesy.

I’m still working a full time job and on my second semester at school – except my class starts and ends later twice a week. I swear, parking near the campus is much harder this time around – people are staying longer in spots to the point where by the time they leave, I should have been in class.

And to end things on a beauty-related note: the only thing that seems to maintain innovation in the makeup industry is manufactured drama.