Hey legends! I have huge news, bad news, and great news… 🥳
The huge news… My YouTube course is FINALLY here (about a year after I first started working on it 😅).
If you want to grow your channel much faster, make incredible content, and earn a lot of money with YouTube - I
A YouTuber called Business Casual (Alex Edson) has filed 3 copyright strikes against my channel, claiming I have used a couple of SECONDS of similar footage. These 3 strikes mean I received an email from YouTube saying in a few days my channel is going to be deleted.
🧵 Thread
UPDATE ON BUSINESS CASUAL (Alex Edson) DELETING MY CHANNEL: In my YouTube studio it now says: "Your YouTube channel will be terminated soon, along with any associated channels, unless you are able to resolve your strikes."
🧵This thread has the full info on what happens next...
I wish I could post a YouTube video to outline all my evidence in detail, but 'Business Casual' deliberately did 3 copyright strikes in quick succession against me so I wouldn't be able to post anything on YouTube about this (which is where almost all my audience is).
🧵thread
I’ve never posted much on Twitter/X, but I’m gonna start sharing stuff here regularly...
I never realized there was such an active ‘faceless youtube’ community on here, which is pretty cool.
Given that I openly share what my channel is, hopefully I can provide some unique
🚨 UPDATE on Alex Edson deleting my channel:
Short version: Alex hasn't dropped the strikes, but YouTube is NOT deleting my channel. 🥳 Thanks so much to all of you for your support!
I've made a video explaining exactly what happened / what's next...
1 Million LEGENDS. 💖
I'm sure every creator likes to say they have the best audience, but I really do believe it. You guys are awesome, and I just wanted to thank you all for your amazing support. It means a lot.
When I first started out on YouTube, 1 million subscribers
Basically, because I've countered, Alex Edson (Business Casual) now has 10 business days to sue me. If he doesn't, hopefully that means my channel survives. But this guy has a history of lawsuits and taking down channels, so at this point I honestly don't know what will happen.
But HOPEFULLY the next update I'll have for you is to say that Alex Edson has dropped the strikes...
In which case I'll consider all of this over, and look forward to working on a new video for you soon (probably after a short break to mentally recover). 😅
Thanks again,
John
A little motivation for you…
When 1 single YouTube video can make over $100,000 US dollars from ads alone, why wouldn’t you spend more time making videos? 😁
If you’re interested in seeing more behind the scenes screenshots, I’ll be posting more over the next few weeks.
Alex Edson (
@CasualDigestCom
) is trying to take down Upper Echelon's YouTube video because it shows the public 'Business Casual' YouTube page.
The good news is, the more Alex does this, the more people have come forward to me with allegations about Alex and his abusive tactics.
I can’t really put into words how devastated I am. I do not believe these strikes are fair whatsoever, and I have repeatedly tried to reach out to Business Casual directly to try and resolve this amicably between us in private.
The fact he made 3 strikes and is unwilling to talk, suggests he wants my channel terminated.
Unfortunately I can't post videos whilst this situation is all still under review.
"During this period, strikes will not expire and you will not be able to upload new videos.
Your account termination is on hold, awaiting final review of a counter notification."
All I do know is that if Alex had a problem with a few seconds of my video, he could've just contacted me and I'd have removed them. I've tried reaching out to him several times since then to try and resolve this privately, but no answer.
Thanks
@LudwigAhgren
for covering the situation (and thanks to everyone who told him).
Since this all happened, other creators have come forward to me with allegations against Alex Edson from back when he ran PowerTV MCN. It's made me realise how lucky I
The footage he has claimed is literally 2 or 3 seconds in videos that are 20+ and 50+ minutes long (documentaries that took me and my editors over 100+ hours each to make).
If Alex Edson simply drops the strikes now, all of this will be resolved.
So if anyone out there knows Alex Edson (Business Casual), please could you try to explain to him that striking another person's channel is not the answer.
The situation with Alex Edson is a beautiful example of The Streisand Effect.
He tried to take away my ability to post videos and censored all his comments, but it completely backfired and now everyone knows about his dark past & repeated abuse towards creators.
Thread… 🧵
If Alex does go the lawsuit route, I'll obviously keep you updated every step of the way, as the case could have a big impact for creators.
Thanks to everyone who has come forward with evidence / screenshots / stories of the allegations against Alex in case it does come to that
I've now heard from a LARGE amount of people who are claiming Alex Edson (Business Casual's owner) has in some way tried to ruin their life, just like he is doing to me.
If you yourself have had dealings with Alex, or know someone he has affected, please reply here or DM me.
Hey legends. I’m still alive. 😅 I took a small break from working on videos at the start of the year, but I’m now back and feeling re-energized, and I’m ready to make 2024 the best year of content so far.
A new MagnatesMedia documentary will be dropping next week, and it’s
The footage he is claiming incorporates images in the public domain that he does NOT own - we have both applied a basic parallax animation effect in those couple of seconds, but the clips are not even identical.
As for everyone else... A massive thank you for all your support through this!
Facing the prospect of losing everything has obviously been a nightmare, but I can't stress enough how much I've appreciated all the kind messages and huge outpouring of help. It means a lot.
Unfortunately I have since been told that Alex Edson has a history of this. There are allegations from other creators of him shutting down their channel or threatening them
And this goes back pretty far:
@Rainolaguer
The golden rule with YouTube: spend longer on your topic, title, thumbnail, and intro.
Those 4 elements have such a massive impact on your videos’ success.
And yet people will spend hours filming and editing a video, but then hardly any time on packaging it in a way that will
Wow. MagnatesMedia just hit 1,500,000 subscribers. Seriously, thank you so much for all the support...
It was around this exact time about a year ago that my channel got attacked, and I was genuinely not sure if I’d even be able to continue.
Instead, you guys all supported
Advanced YouTube strategy: split test intros
Since you can cut parts out of your video after uploading using the ‘editor’ in YouTube Studio, you could have 2 different intros in your video file that you upload, and edit one of them out before publishing.
Then if the first intro
Example: He has given me a strike for my Andrew Carnegie video. (His video is 15:59 in length, whereas my video is 53:30). The image he’s claimed in my video is a historical photo in the public domain, and the effects my editor has added to the image are different to him...
I want to clarify this is not
@YouTube
's fault as my content was manually flagged by Alex. But if you could help make the
@TeamYouTube
aware of this, that may help?
We can work out whatever the problem is, but there's no need to delete someone's entire channel over a few seconds of footage or a few sentences in a script. I just want to move on from all this and continue creating content.
@CasualDigestCom
Alex, I've mentioned this already, but if we ever cover a similar topic again in future I'm more than happy to send you my script (+ sources) and editor's raw files before I put it live, just so there is no doubt or issues here.
For example, my editor has added explosions, flames, and other custom animations. My editor has also literally provided his editing timeline to show he added the effects himself. And yet Business Casual has still given me a copyright strike.
If you saw this CTR of 2.2%... you'd think the title & thumbnail surely need to be changed, right?
But what if I said this video got around 11,000,000 views and is literally my most watched video?
When you consider how many millions of people were shown this title & thumbnail,
Hey guys, I should have an update for you on the situation with my channel later this week.
In the meantime, Upper Echelon just posted a NEW video looking deeper into Alex Edson. There's some really crazy findings, check it out:
There are a lot of different ways to win on YouTube.
But there's only one way to lose: quit.
Keep going, keep improving.
It only takes one video to change everything.
If we are saying that just using the same PUBLIC photo and applying a similar effect/animation is breaching copyright and worthy of channel termination, it surely sets an extremely dangerous precedent for all of YouTube & all creators.
I am genuinely crushed by all of this. I am not some big media company, I am a guy in my 20’s who loves making content and has gradually built up a channel over the last 5 years.
I want to stress the original creator of most of Business Casual's content is not to blame at all. But he (Jordan) sold the channel to Alex Edson a little while back. Alex hasn't posted any new videos in the last 2 years except one about suing YouTube.
The 2 videos that got deleted recently (JP Morgan & Starbucks) are now both re-uploaded 🥳 Hope you enjoy!
I've already written the next 2 videos, and they'll hopefully be ready by mid July.
Thanks again for all the support. Feels like everything is back on track now. 😁
I've seen people wanting to learn how my videos are edited, but what are the main editing questions you have?
And also what specific effects would you like to see tutorials on (feel free to reply with specific video/timestamps you'd like to learn & see how they were made).
Upper Echelon is being sued in an $11 million defamation lawsuit.
When my channel was being attacked, I witnessed first hand the incredible in-depth research Upper Echelon does & how he meticulously verifies sources.
Please check his latest video ('Taking a Stand') on YouTube.
.
@CasualDigestCom
recently made a flawed video () where they make a big deal out of a news channel using a few short clips of their footage.
The issue however is that Business Casual is actively censoring criticism in the comments of their video. (1/5)
Most importantly, if you're able to share this with any other creators or help get the word out in any way, that would be appreciated more than you can imagine. 🙏
I will be gutted if this really is the end, but either way, thank you so much for your support. - John
If you've just come here from my community tab post, a huge thank you for the support. I'm still trying to figure things out right now, but I will update you all on the situation as soon as I can.🙏 Stressful times. 😅
This channel is my full-time income, and for all of my ~250 videos to be permanently deleted because of a couple of seconds of similar (but different) footage is heartbreaking.
I'M BACK! 😁
Murder, government corruption, conspiracy theories, drugs, cults & MUCH more.
Honestly, building a revolutionary multi-million dollar antivirus company is probably the least interesting part of John McAfee’s life.
Video live NOW on MagnatesMedia YouTube channel!
📢 MAGNATESMEDIA STAKEHOLDER MEETING - October 2023
Hey legends, John here. If you're subscribed to MagnatesMedia then you're a part of this channel, and so I wanted to give you a quick update...
Firstly, thank you! The channel has now passed 100 million views. 🤯 I started
I'm increasingly convinced that fame is overrated.
That's why I love faceless YT channels.
You still get all the benefits of having a channel & an audience...
But without all the downsides like losing your privacy.
Better to be rich and anonymous imo.
Do you agree?
What is an evergreen video & why is it SO important?
Most people are stuck in the social media hamster wheel. 🛞
They have to keep posting constantly or their channel dies and their revenue stops.
But it doesn't have to be like that.
Evergreen videos are videos that
I’ve been using X for a week or 2 now, and honestly it’s an amazing community here. Genuinely really cool to connect with you all. BUT so many posts are someone promising something, and then you have to comment for them to DM it to you. Feels like those type of posts are too
I wish I could post a YouTube video to outline all my evidence in detail, but 'Business Casual' deliberately did 3 copyright strikes in quick succession against me so I wouldn't be able to post anything on YouTube about this (which is where almost all my audience is).
🧵thread
I immediately reached out to my editor when I saw the timestamps Alex claimed, and my editor sent back this screen recording of his editing timeline to show he'd made this himself. (He's also filmed a screen recording of step by step how he did it as further proof if needed)
This video from Scott is an excellent summary of the whole situation. (I can't post videos myself right now as the copyright strikes are still under review.)
Please share if possible. Thanks guys!
But finally, I just wanna say thank you again to everyone who helped me during this whole ordeal.
So many of you sent messages of support & useful information, and helped raise awareness of what was happening.
Honestly, it really means a lot. You’re all legends! 💖
I wish I could post a YouTube video to outline all my evidence in detail, but 'Business Casual' deliberately did 3 copyright strikes in quick succession against me so I wouldn't be able to post anything on YouTube about this (which is where almost all my audience is).
🧵thread
You can see here the 3 copyright strikes are for 2 seconds, 3 seconds and 7 seconds (really 1 second) in videos that are ~20 minutes and 50+ minutes long.
These are not just copyright claims to take my ad money, they are strikes to get the video + channel deleted forever
As for Alex's claims I used an "AI script" for my Carnegie video: I have NEVER used AI in my scripts ever. Here's my script google doc with timestamps that show loads of edits and revisions went into the script and I spent a full week working on it.
For those wondering why MagnatesMedia might get deleted, this video from Scott is an excellent summary of the situation. (I can't post videos myself right now as the copyright strikes are still under review.)
Idk who made this, but it definitely sums up my experience with YouTube. 😅
I think it's a much more helpful frame to ask "How do I make videos people will like more?" instead of "How do I beat the algorithm?"
YouTube is basically an online game. Millions of people around the world are playing simultaneously, each one looking to level up and gain more views and subscribers. 🎮
But unlike most other online games, succeeding at the game of YouTube will give you very real rewards. With
Another video Alex Edson is trying to take off YouTube simply because it shows his public YouTube channel page 🤦♂️clearly abusing the system
@TeamYouTube
Me: has a very small team
Ytjobs: review 164 people you’ve worked with
🤔
Lesson: Judge freelancers on the work/trial they do for you... not what they claim to have done for someone else. A lot of people's portfolios are literally made up. 😅
It’s sad that the term ‘passive income’ has become so abused by scammers, that some people now seem to think it's not even real. 😅
Of course passive income is real. But it doesn't mean money for nothing. It just means you put in the work upfront.
Instead of directly trading
We are literally talking about a couple of SECONDS of footage that is not even identical, using publicly available images with basic parallax animation applied (something I use in my videos all the time, as do many creators/editors).
You can see here the image in question is an old historical photo in the public domain available in countless places all over the internet. It's an important part of the story so not surprising any video about Andrew Carnegie would use this image.
🩸🍌☠️
Massacres, wars, and overthrowing governments…
The banana industry has an extremely dark past.
New documentary live now on MagnatesMedia with the full story! Hope you enjoy :)
I wanna stress that if I / my editor had literally just ripped several minutes of footage from his content & simply copied it into my own video with no edits, I would understand the strikes. (Even though creators don't normally strike each other). But thats not the case at all.
I know it would inevitably be a disaster as it would be so unregulated and full of scams… BUT I love the concept of a stock market for YouTube channels.
Investing in channels you think have huge potential (and in turn help to fund that channel) is such an interesting idea. 📈
The vast majority of the world still doesn't fully understand the ridiculous opportunity there is with YouTube.
If you’re one of the small percent who does understand the opportunity, now is the time to go all in.
📈 Simple but effective way to get more views today with very little work:
1️⃣ Step 1. Go back to one of your best older videos that’s no longer getting many views but that’s still relevant and could be enjoyed by your audience today.
2️⃣ Step 2. Update title and thumbnail to
Plus, my video was 53:31 minutes, his was only 15:59. And they were posted years apart. The styles, analysis, tone etc were all totally different too. The only visual similarity is we've used the same publicly available historical image which is a key part of the story.
Shout out to everyone building big stuff right now.
In previous centuries empires were built with resources like steel and oil.
But nowadays people can build an empire with nothing more than a laptop and internet connection.
You may have heard the phrase: attention is the
I did of course try to explain this privately to Alex first and asked him several times if we could work this out between us, creator to creator. But he ignored those messages and so I felt I had no choice but to make this public in the hope it can save my channel being deleted.
It has taken years to build my channel but I feel like I've finally managed to level up my content a lot. The thought of losing everything is making me pretty sick. I don't wanna give you all some sob story, but this really is my entire livelihood and 5 years of work.
Jeff Bezos has a perspective that can help YouTube creators: “Focus on things that don’t change”
For example, Amazon always know customers are going to want things cheaper and faster, so that gives them a north star to aim for that doesn’t change. So they can focus heavily on
In the meantime, if people could please RT the original tweet in this thread, it'd be really appreciated. As technically as it stands my channel is still due to be deleted in a few days I think 😅
I have lots more evidence if needed. Plus a lot of creators have privately contacted me about past issues with Alex Edson themselves. But honestly I have no interest in YouTube drama. I just want Alex to drop the strikes / lawsuit threats so I can continue making content.
Of course if two creators make a video on the same topic (in this case a very prominent historical figure many people have covered before), there are going to be similarities and likely even some of the same sources used. But surely it's good to have different perspectives?
I have now countered the copyright strike from Business Casual. But it's now all on Alex (Business Casual's owner) whether he drops the strikes or files a lawsuit.
Sure, creating ‘curiosity’ with your thumbnail & title is great...
But it can be a fine line between curiosity and confusion.
You’re meant to make people intrigued to click and find out more.
But if they’re completely confused wtf your video even is, they probably won’t
Alex, if you're reading this: if I ever cover the same video topic as you again in the future (unlikely), I am even happy to send you my script sources and raw editing files before going live, just so you have peace of mind my intentions are good.
Whilst I'm pretty sure almost no creator would ever file a lawsuit against another creator over something like this, I was nervous to counter as I know Alex has a history of lawsuits. And lawyers are expensive asf.