Dear Miss Wojcicki and YouTube

I would like very much to connect with you on a matter with regards to us Historians, documentary film makers and our historical presentations on the YouTube platform. After having investigated the matter further and gathered similar findings from most of my colleagues in the Historical content world I felt I had to write you directly again, as more seems at stake than just a few accounts. Again, I would like you to consider the possibilities of supporting the serious historians who were until January able to make a living making presentations exclusively on YouTube, material presented in schools, academies and for teaching around the world, yet now in danger of leaving the platform. It is clear that given the new direction YouTube have taken as of January 1st traffic is actively being directed away from history and historians, our documentaries are no longer promoted, our revenue have dropped in my case by 85 percent, literally overnight. and the same for my colleagues and their channels. Myself I have and still am in good standing, but now struggling and given this change it is no longer possibly for me to travel around the world and film historical locations and produce content for YouTube as the previous years. I have to return to other platforms, Amazon and my old Network deals, as many of my colleagues. Our videos are simply no longer found, they are not recommended, even when monetized the revenue has been cut by 3/4. And it happened over night So it is a direct result of YouTube policies and changes. I cannot even find my own series even when searching their name. So my fans or followers cannot find me either, notifications no longer work in many instances. And I have been consulting with the many various other historians on the platform and ALL have found the same to be the case for them. Thus, it is clear this is a platform decision and it is destroying our collective ability to continue to produce serious contend exclusively for YouTube. This is a direction I hope you would reconsider, given the very importance of history and the learning's from historical events that are so important. The very discourse and explanation of historical events are paramount for any society to learn and flourish. And an international platform such as YouTube can and should play a key part in this. As you have until January of this year. We documentary film makers are now facing the prospect of having to leave and start our own platform or platforms, which would decrease the reach of important learning and valuable entertainment. And I dare say it would diminish the YouTube platform's quality. I again hope you will consider returning to the previous way YouTube ran its algorithm, promoted, suggested and highlighted historical videos with the support and possibilities that used to exist for historians here in YouTube, and perhaps entertain the idea of creating a separate category for History on the platform. Given the new again adjusted regulations for YouTube uploads of certain visual aspects of for instance warfare and war history, a large part of history, they too are now to over regulated and strict and will not allow for showing and monetizing many of the mainstream visuals and documentaries that goes along with military history. This would not be an issue with a dedicated History category as a more liberal approach to censorship could be implemented given the nature of the programming. But mostly it saddens me that the direction you have taken with the platform have made it impossible for many of us to continue. I walked away from my network deals to exclusively produce for YouTube, I stay clear of politics, graphic violence and I have tried to make documentaries that are informative and entertaining to reach the broadest audience, and the previous way YouTube was set up it was possibly to fund these international productions from the commercial revenue. Now after what feels like a shadow ban, I cannot continue beyond my current material, my fans can not find my content nor are they informed of new shows. Myself and many others are now suffering from what is either collateral damage due to new unwise restriction from restructuring the YouTube platform or it is a deliberate suppression of historical content? I would believe it is the first In which case I hope my email to you can help restore this to a situation again making it possibly for historians to continue as before. But if it is the latter I, as my many colleagues all over the world like to know why? I would in fact like to arrange a meeting with you, to present our views and suggestions if you are open to such a meeting? Or maybe a live interview on the subject? I hope this information and suggestions will be met with goodwill and together a solution can be found before more channels will have to close and leave YouTube.

Sincerely Tino Struckmann

Lost Battlefields

CEO ADEG