The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.7 The YouTube Problems Are Getting Worse & JackSepticEye, Markiplier, & CoryxKenshin Are Fighting Back

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show. Buckle up, make sure you're subscribed because I'm splitting $10,000 across 10 lucky subscribed beautiful bastards this month. And let's just jump into it. Imagine your child gets kidnapped. As a parent, there are few things that are more horrifying than that prospect. And then imagine you get a video of your child like this mother in Spain just recently did. I can't show you the video because YouTube will suppress it. But in the video, it shows this woman, her 30 year old daughter,

Starting point is 00:00:25 she has a blindfold on, she's crying, she has a knife to her throat, and in the video she's saying, Mom, they took me, I don't know why because I've done nothing. She says she's been beaten, she's been deprived of food, it's spine-chilling. With her ultimately saying her captors won't let her go until her mother pays around $50,000 and please, please don't tell the police or they're going to kill her. But, we're talking about it on the Philip DeFranco show, which means with an 85% likelihood, this is fake. It turned out to be fake.

Starting point is 00:00:49 According to the authorities, the woman in the video staged the whole thing to extort cash out of her own mother with four accomplices, fake blood, and an Oscar-worthy performance. In fact, it was such a good performance, the mother actually falls for it and withdraws the $50,000 to pay the ransom.

Starting point is 00:01:02 And it turns out, reportedly, she had already made three prior payments totaling $45,000 after receiving menacing letters threatening her daughter's life. But then when the bank sees this $50,000 transfer, they alert the authorities to begin investigating and figure out what's going on within 24 hours. Quickly tracking down the daughter and her co-conspirators at a slot machine casino, enjoying that sweet, sweet extortion money. With them now having all been arrested and facing charges that could land them in prison for several years. So I guess the main point of this story is don't trust your children, those little psychopaths. I'm kidding.

Starting point is 00:01:30 I don't think there's actually a lesson to be learned here except this one daughter is a crazy horrible person. Also, I can't even imagine what this poor mother is going through. One of my sons lied to me about eating a doughnut and literally no one else could have eaten it and that fucked me up for a week. I was like, it's who, Trey? Like it was an Entenmann's chocolate donut, so in his position I probably would have done the same thing but still. Let's fuck with YouTube.

Starting point is 00:01:51 That seems to be the general reaction from a lot of very big creators right now who are essentially revolting against the platform. I kind of love the fucking with YouTube part because there's only so much you can do with rage before you're like, am I just, does it just come off like I'm whining but these these are serious issues, but I hate even having to do this. You post on this platform long enough, you're gonna feel like that. And as far as the

Starting point is 00:02:11 specifics of what the hell I'm talking about right now, it starts with Corey Kenshin. Like we talked about, he put out a video a couple of weeks ago accusing YouTube's age-related policy system of either being racist, playing favorites, or both. Notably, it not being just like about the automated system or like the first step, but the fact that Corey had to go through this big back and forth with YouTube, the age restriction on his video gets lifted, then it's put back in place again, other YouTubers start getting hit, YouTube's actions and messaging seem disjointed all over the place, fucking stupid and messy. But the response from YouTubers has been anything but. With tons of major creators in the days following putting out their own videos.

Starting point is 00:02:41 All of this effort to try and get more transparency or answers from YouTube always seems to be in vain. They just don't seem to have that capability. They just absolutely outright despise communication, it feels like. And that sucks because, you know, that's the chemical X to the Powerpuff Girls formula here. If they could just explain things, their reputation would be doing a 180.

Starting point is 00:03:04 But also in addition to critiques, you had others saying, hey, let's see how far we can push YouTube. And so we saw creators like Markiplier and Jacksepticeye doing try-not-to-get-age-restricted challenges, where they end up playing extremely explicit games featuring sexual content, nudity, or just very suggestive-looking images. With the caveat being, though, that they still blurred all the actual explicit parts out. Markiplier describing one video as a perfectly family-friendly video

Starting point is 00:03:25 about a fun game where I am an orc who gives massages, and adding there's no reason that this video should be age-restricted whatsoever. And while it hasn't been confirmed whether this was actually connected the same day, YouTube ended up cutting Mark's segment from a live gaming event. Though YouTube did end up keeping

Starting point is 00:03:38 in a small one-minute section of Mark, maybe to justify the fact that they used him in the thumbnail for that video. But the conversation that Corey Kenshin stoked around YouTube and its inconsistent Practices with age restricting and determining whether a video is safe to run ads against doesn't end there We've now seen a youtuber by the name of Patrick CC pointing out how YouTube has this tendency to initially fully monetize videos But then weeks or months later and inexplicably limits ads or just removes them all together My Bam Margera video got blocked after 1 million views,

Starting point is 00:04:06 like deleted from the platform. I censored a couple words and photos that I thought maybe were the problem. I re-uploaded it, told you guys, and now it is my biggest video that I've ever produced ever in my career. Then they randomly deleted the comments off my Zack and Cody video after I had 2 million views. Then my Instagram clout era video

Starting point is 00:04:24 got age-restricted after 1 million views. Then my Instagram clout era video got age restricted after 1 million views. If you look at this, the video is doing about 20,000 views per day, then just gets sent to the Gulag. With Patrick making around $100 a day from that video until it was age restricted, where you then only got about a dollar a day from it. And even now he says he still doesn't know why it was age restricted. There's also a whole host of other problems he lists off. Or things like you don't know what YouTube is ever going to deem inappropriate. Also, you can have a what YouTube is ever gonna deem inappropriate. Also, you can have a video that's age-restricted, but then someone reacts to it, and it's completely, fully monetized.

Starting point is 00:04:50 But his main point boils down to this. This Stevo video that I just uploaded, I had to do multiple tests to get it monetized. And eventually, I did. There are tons of things that are blurred out in this video, and to me, it's so annoying and ruins the video. But despite that, everything is going great. The views are doing well, it's performing annoying and ruins the video. But despite that, everything is going great. The views are doing well. It's performing well in the algorithm and people are really liking it. Then I got an email at 4 a.m. last night saying that the video is age restricted. So I checked my YouTube studio and it still says that the video is fully monetized.

Starting point is 00:05:18 Everything looks perfectly normal. It doesn't require you to sign in to watch and it doesn't have the age restriction notice on the bottom. So then I decided to go and check the views and check it out. It's doing about a thousand, two thousand views per hour and then boom, straight to the gulag. And they're definitely hiding it from the algorithm because no video just drops 80 percent viewership ever. But they're not enforcing the age restriction on the viewers. Like we see with a lot of creators, Patrick says he's probably going to end up shifting his channel away for more controversial topics, right? Noting that he has a family and multiple employees to take care of.

Starting point is 00:05:49 And while I agree with the sentiment of pretty much every YouTuber that we've talked about here, I very much relate to what Patrick is saying. It's part of the reason why you focus so much on in-show sponsors rather than hoping that YouTube actually grants all our monetization. But then, as Patrick also talks about, there's the worry about suppression. The seemingly random but massive drop in viewership, even though your video is trending

Starting point is 00:06:08 a certain way. But as far as YouTube is going to do anything about this, try to get better, or actually be better, I don't know. Because let's be honest, most of us are just going to continue posting on this platform. Granted, it can annoy creators into looking to other platforms, and I almost want to thank YouTube for that because a number of YouTube's decisions make me feel like this can't be my only home. It's made me reach out and succeed on platforms like Snap as well as TikTok. But we'll see. I hope YouTube can do better, but I will not be holding my breath. The end of the market bull run has been a story of progression, not panic for many retail investors. And volatile markets have actually led to improved confidence for many, with 44% of investors saying they have greater confidence in their investing skill today versus six months ago.

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Starting point is 00:07:34 Shout out to the politicians in Mississippi, North Carolina, and Indiana for knowing how to ruin a good thing. So remember how a couple of weeks ago, some of you found out that you were getting $10,000 to $20,000 in student debt relief? Well, as it turns out, you may have to pay taxes on that debt relief as if it was regular income. But it depends on which state you live in, right?

Starting point is 00:07:53 The three that I mentioned at the top have confirmed that they will consider the forgiven loans taxable income. And they're likely not alone. You have states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Arkansas set to do the same unless they change their laws to exempt forgiven debtors from taxation, which they haven't made a decision on yet. And as far as how much you'll owe in taxes, it depends on where you live. You have places like Clark County, for example. There, if you got $10,000 forgiven, you're looking at $523. And so online, we've been seeing this big debate with supporters of the tax, putting forth all the usual arguments against student debt relief.

Starting point is 00:08:19 Right there, pointing out that for a long time, the federal government and most states did tax debt forgiveness. With that only changing last year when federal lawmakers exempted student debt relief from 2022 to 2025, a move that many states followed. But then, on the other side, you have people arguing that this is just gonna hurt poor people who can't come up with the cash to pay off the unexpected tax burden. And pointing out that debt forgiveness isn't the same as money earned, right? Money in your pocket that then you get to do stuff with. That taxing it is basically like taxing tax cuts.

Starting point is 00:08:43 But also, at the same time, some of you are gonna to get good news because some states have already confirmed they will not be taxing the debt relief with those including New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, Hawaii, and Idaho. But still then for some others, it's more ambiguous as this expert from the tax foundation explains. States often don't have their own definitions or they have provisions that are ancillarily related. So California, for instance, does not conform to federal law here. That would usually mean that it's taxable, but they have an old law in the books for some forms of student loan debt discharge.

Starting point is 00:09:12 And some California officials, I think most of them are saying, we're gonna find a way to shoehorn it in here and it's gonna be okay. And others are saying, we're not so sure. Maybe we'd need to change the law. So if you're in one of the states where this is happening, whenever the debt is forgiven,

Starting point is 00:09:23 they'll count that as one big addition to your income. So you'll have to pay taxes on it all at once for whatever year you change the law. So if you're in one of the states where this is happening, whenever the debt is forgiven, they'll count that as one big addition to your income. So you'll have to pay taxes on it all at once for whatever year you claim the relief. But until we get more information on this, I'd love to know your thoughts, especially if you're eligible for student debt relief. America is number one in the world at fucking everything, except healthcare and I guess now abortion rights

Starting point is 00:09:41 and education and electronics manufacturing. I'm gonna stop talking because the statement doesn't seem to be holding up now. I mean, we have more guns than people in this country, and our military could kill everyone on the planet like 12 times. I guess there's that. But the reason I'm talking about this is specifically electronics manufacturing. Because the U.S. right now is very focused on this in a number of ways.

Starting point is 00:09:59 Like, for example, moving forward, any, quote, advanced technology company that receives federal funding will be barred from making new facilities in China for 10 years. And that will very likely be a ton of companies as the US just passed the $53 billion Chips Act. With those two things together meant to bolster semiconductor manufacturing here in the States. Now, obviously China not happy about the decision as it'll potentially be losing out on billions of dollars in manufacturing. Its embassy also calling the Chips Act a throwback to Cold War mentality. But I think a number of people don't realize how complicated this is.

Starting point is 00:10:28 And in fact, American companies right now are trying to get some clarification. Because under the new rules, they can actually expand Chinese facilities, but only if they're making older chips. One of the key things is that the US doesn't want more new tech stolen by Chinese companies, which has been a complaint for a while now.

Starting point is 00:10:42 But as it currently stands, most microchip manufacturing in China is actually for less advanced chips anyways. So for many, it's unclear what this actually changes. All the advanced stuff is done in Taiwan, South Korea and the US. But that also highlights a point of concern. The fact that so much of the manufacturing is concentrated in Taiwan makes the supply chain susceptible to disruptions,

Starting point is 00:10:59 especially with China's increasingly hostile actions towards the country. I mean, we already saw what the disruptions caused by the pandemic did to electronics prices. But then imagine if almost no tech was getting actions towards the country. I mean, we already saw what the disruptions caused by the pandemic did to electronics prices, but then imagine if almost no tech was getting out of the island. So this entire project will likely ensure more stability in the advanced chips market moving forward

Starting point is 00:11:12 if the US can successfully increase how many microchips we're making. Things are already looking good with many companies already vowing to build new plants, including major players in the industry like Intel and Micron, which also possibly opens up many more jobs, everything from building these facilities

Starting point is 00:11:24 to actually working them. So seemingly great news for America, though it's also another escalation in the US-China trade war. Though to that, I would say there are very few perfect solutions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't aim for solutions. Donald Trump may have declassified another country's nuclear secrets. At least that's a possibility if you believe his claim that he could just like magically wave his hand and say, all these documents I took to Mar-a-Lago, they're declassified now. So let's get into the specifics, right? According to a new report from the Washington Post,

Starting point is 00:11:50 people familiar with the matter say that a document describing a foreign government's military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents during their raid. And reportedly, some of the seized documents detail top secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them, with only the president, some members of his cabinet, or a near cabinet level official able to authorize other government officials to know details of these special access programs, according to people familiar with the search. Materials of this nature would require special clearances beyond top secret. When you're dealing with information like this,

Starting point is 00:12:21 these things are kept under lock and key, almost always in a secure compartmented information facility with a designated control officer to keep careful tabs on their location. But, if these allegations are true, instead, Trump was keeping them in a mildewy Florida basement with questionable to no security for more than 18 months. And that's without considering why the hell he even had this information in the first place. He's no longer president. So incredibly massive news, if true, but also this is not entirely out of the blue. We know for a fact from DOJ filings that the FBI has recovered more than 300 classified documents from Mar-a-Lago in total. The department has also said that some of the documents seized in August were so high security that even the FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were even permitted to review certain documents. We also know for a fact that a grand jury subpoena

Starting point is 00:13:04 issued in May demanded that he return all documents or writings in the custody bearing classification markings. And the subpoena is specifically listing more than two dozen subclassifications of documents, including formerly restricted data, a label that primarily concerns information related to the military use of nuclear weapons. Though also, I want to note here because there's a number of misunderstandings I'm seeing online. Even though formerly is in the title, that term does not mean the information is no longer classified. And so that's where we are. But as far as what happens next,

Starting point is 00:13:28 that remains to be seen because there are two massive things at play here. One, the actual legal ramifications for what transpired and two, the court of public opinion. Like Donald Trump is so obviously in the wrong. You have former Trump allies and people that Donald Trump put in massive positions of power like Bill Barr

Starting point is 00:13:44 saying there is no reason for Donald Trump to have had this. He went on Fox News, said it plain as day. The classified stuff are government documents and they go to the government. There is no scenario legally under which the president gets to keep the government documents, whether it's classified or unclassified. If it deals with government stuff and it's government, it goes back to the government. Also regarding the flimsy arguments of it being wrong that Donald Trump had his like passports or personal things taken during this raid, Bill Barr said this. So the only other thing, the only things would be, you know, personal items and clearly personal stuff. The reason that was included to be seized, the issue here is not who ends up with it. The question is, could they have seized

Starting point is 00:14:26 it? They could seize it and they can keep it if it's evidence of the way the documents, the classified documents and the government documents were stored. So if you find very sensitive documents in Trump's desk, along with his passports, that ties Trump to those documents. The passports are things that the government, they're personal stuff to Trump. But the fact that they're found with the classified documents is evidentiary. And the government decides whether that's relevant.

Starting point is 00:14:55 Eventually, he'll get that stuff back. With Bill Barr then going even further to speak on and against the Trump-appointed judge who granted Trump's request for a special master on Monday. Some special master to review the 11,000 government documents and notably blocking prosecutors from continuing the use of the documents in their criminal investigation until that review is complete. The problem I have with the special master is what she's done on what's called executive privilege documents. And she didn't address the only question that's

Starting point is 00:15:22 in dispute, which is can the former president have standing to say that the investigators don't even get to look at the documents, the classified documents that he wrongfully had at Mar-a-Lago? And that's the only question. And she dodges it. And then she says that she's bringing in a special master to look at whether stuff is executive privilege or not. That's not where the dispute is. Notably, in that same interview, Trump's former AG says Trump could possibly get indicted, saying, I think they're very close to that point. But also with that bar posing the questions.

Starting point is 00:16:00 But I think at the end of the day, there's another question is, do you indict a former president? What will that do to the country? What kind of precedent will that set? Will the people really understand that this is not, you know, failing to return a library book, that this was serious? And so you have to worry about those things. And I hope that those kinds of factors will incline the administration not to indict him, because I don't want to see him indicted as a former president. But I also think they'll be under a lot of pressure to indict him, because, you know, one question, look, if anyone else would have gotten indicted, why not indict him? It's a bar there posing a question that's been greatly debated, especially if you look back in history. When you have someone in politics who is obviously in the wrong, what are the risks of being too soft and what are the risks of being too hard?

Starting point is 00:16:38 If they indict Trump, does that turn him into a political martyr? It lights a fuse in America. His capital and support actually goes up on his side. They see him as being persecuted rather than dealing with the consequences of illegal actions. Or do you not indict and you go soft and you show that there are no consequences? You leave the threat to America untouched and allow its power to continue to grow. But ultimately, that's the end of that story and today's show. But I will leave you with the question of what do you think is going to happen and what do you want to happen? Because in this life, those two things rarely line up.

Starting point is 00:17:05 As always, thank you for watching and being subscribed to my daily dives into the news. If you want more news, I got you covered here or in those links down below. But of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco. You've just been filled in. I love yo faces and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 9.7 The YouTube Problems Are Getting Worse & JackSepticEye, Markiplier, & CoryxKenshin Are Fighting Back

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