Rejecting Modernity: YouTube's downfall is all but assured.
Hey, everyone. You probably don't know this about me, but I, the writer of Rejecting Modernity and all of these guides connected to this project so far, used to be the creator of a niche series named the YT Lock-out Files, a series where YouTube goes off the deep end and locks people who haven't given up their ID yet out of their platform until they do. Ironic, seeing how Australia is, word-for-word, doing the exact same thing here.
Now, this guide in the Rejecting Modernity project is as a result of a lot of world events happening at once, as well as something threatening everything as a whole.
I used to own a channel named "@violetteboycottsbadcompanies" as a response to current YT drama, however.. due to controversy, that entire channel and it's original premise has been left behind permanently, so that I can actually properly start a channel. However.. as we speak, things have gotten way worse. Worse enough to try talking about it.
Now, originally, I could just tell you that YouTube's problems could be summed up with "they implemented an age verification system, left said verification system to an AI, and that AI was almost typically wrong 99.5% of the time, meaning most of the people who were actually old enough got affected anyways.", tell you to switch to a Clippy PFP, and we could all point and laugh as YouTube got the brunt of the backlash and ended up reversing the effects along with the government when the time came.. God, how I wish those events happened instead of what we got.
Because now, somehow, believe it or not, it's gotten even worse than before!
The moderation tools (y'know, the same moderation tools handled by an already not-good bot) were handed from that same very not-good bot to the age verification AI. The AI that has struck my channel with being unable to do anything until I give my ID up, hit me with a claim, and is now potentially the reason why my Google account could get deleted, as they could very well just erase it if I don't give up my ID. And unlike the ID change, the moderation change affects everyone, meaning trip the wrong way, and YouTube will smack you in the face for no good reason, then strike your entire channel off the board because right after you tripped, you looked at the AI the wrong way.
An AI filter was made, which was supposed to make short form and eventually long form content better-looking, which it didn't. It in fact, looked really, really bad. ..And a glitch with this filter made it so that the video would begin flashing occasionally, which could be enough to trip someone's epilepsy, turning any YouTube video into a game of Russian Roulette, where you may either get a normal video, or legitamately end up in the hospital, how in the absolute hell do you fuck up that bad??
They ruined the search feature practically making it impossible for small creators to get chosen in the algorithim, they broke people's feeds with AI slop, the comment section is pitifully filled with bots now, everything related to custom captions are now practically useless... in fact, there's so much wrong with YouTube that instead of listing everything YouTube fucked up, I'm going to list you to a playlist of Google essentially speedrunning itself to shut YouTube down itself, assume you've watched everything there and then move on to our next point.
So, leaving YouTube might be the only course of action.
As a result of these recent events, I can now officially declare that it is over. We've lost before we've even began the war. A lot of people on YT say that we should stay on the platform, and at least attempt to fight back - but guys, I think Google just hates us. They, from these recent decisions, don't want humans on the platform anymore, but rather, a multiplicative amount of AI.
Even if Louis Rossmann were to line all of YT's audience in Clippy PFPs, who's to say Google will even listen? They might not care that we're attempting to fight back like this. Hell, they're already not giving a shit as we speak, so who's to say they will care NOW? With each of Google's recent decisions, the truth grows more and more unfortunate: We can't fight back. It would be near impossible.
As such, it's gradually becoming impossible for anyone to reside on YT, or worse, use any Google products, without AI being there, or you getting fucked over by moderation. It's slowly becoming a nuclear wasteland, something I don't usually like saying, but it's slowly becoming true. What's the point of staying when not even Google wants us?
I feel the only way we would have a shot at telling Google to cut out with the AI nonsense is to cripple the US half of YouTube hard enough for them to actually listen. If we can't fight back in the platform, we're gonna have to fight back by laeving the platform.
We're gonna have to actually attempt an exodus.
The point of this specific guide is to get YouTube to listen, by crippling their profits in order to make an actual dent on what they're doing. This should hopefully get them to finally listen to us, to stop the AI nonsense, or at the very least, get everyone out of the platform before they pull something even more rash than before, say, attempt to nuke the entire thing when it comes time for the investors to see what's going on with Google.
There will be a guide on how to replace Google fully, coming up in a future installment, however, this guide is specifically for those wishing to leave YT.
And now, for the actual part of the guide you came for...
Replacing YouTube (and how to do so)
So.. where the hell do you go once you've decided enough is enough?
After all, after you're finished reading this, you're eventually come up with an decision, and one of those is entirely cutting support for YouTube.. there has to be some platform you're going to after you leave, and well.. technically there are website replacements for each o' YT's side features. For posting, well, posts, I suggest using Mastodon. Do not even bother with Twitter or Bluesky, they are doomed. If you want to know the reason why they are doomed, I suggest visiting this link for more information. For streams, we don't have a proper replacement for this one (and don't you DARE attempt to suggest Kick to me, there are a lot of controversies I won't get into, but just know that Kick itself isn't doing so hot either) at the moment, so you're gonna have to use Twitch.
But, for uploads, there are a few replacements that are currently available, so allow me to list them off for you in this next point.
Switching to Something Indie
First up, there's Glomble. It's a very niche website, like, it's so indie, it hurts. However, a lot of people (me included) have flocked to the website during the initial exodus, and I only expect a lot more people to end up flocking to the site once more unfortunate circumstances happen to YT. It's a very small place, and you may or may not even find your audience there. But trust me when I say that Glomble is a very tightly knit community of people who'd rather make what they're passionate for instead of just doing it for the money, kinda like the early 2000's YT. (It's kinda why I've grouped both this and BitView in emulations of 2000's YT, without what actually made 2000's YT notable. If you know.. you know.)
There's Odysee, the go-to answer when someone inquires about a replacement for YouTube. It's also supposed to be decentralized, meaning there are multiple authorities making the decisions on the platform instead of just one company doing all of the nonsense, and yes, this is Odysee's selling point: to be a more decentralized YT. And yes, with how decentralized Odysee is.. there's a very high chance you're gonna have to deal with how much cryptocurrency is on the platform.. but if you just ignore it, you'll actually be pretty fine hanging out there instead of YT.. hell, you might even find your audience there, depending on how lucky you manage to hit it off.
There's PeerTube, a multi-platform network, meant to be connected into one big network, kinda like how Mastodon is, but for YouTube. As it doesn't depend on advertisements, but rather donations and fundraisers (Much like Glomble), not only will you not get any ads, you won't have to be worried about something always tracking you to GIVE you ads! It even connects with the Fediverse, something you are going to grow accustomed to in a little while. It's Q&A section does say it isn't meant to replace, but to make a parallel, but come on y'all, YT is failing, it might as well be a replacement at this point. You may find your audience here as well, so I suggest giving it a whirl!
There's Rumble, the alt-right's YouTube equivalent. It originally started off as a small creators hangout sort of thing before the CEO became alt-right, and Rumble's entire infrastructure changed to be this "non-cancel culture, no censorship platform" when in all reality, it's just an excuse for people to shout out their political standpoints and say slurs. And it's even gotten to the point where people who've done actual harmful things rest on the platform. Now, it's basically YouTube, with Kick's extremely faulty moderation and system, and political Twitter's standpoints. If you don't like the alt-right, you'll probably hate like this website or this platform, but there are people who have found their audience in weirder spots, so hey, maybe give it a shot! Or don't, because, as I was researching, it appears a lot of the thumbnails and videos here are AI generated.
There's VK Video, a Russian version of YouTube. And the problem makes itself clear within the very first sentence: It's from Russia. As far as I know, you can't really access this one unless you're on a VPN, seeing how it's entirely in Russian, the entire Ukraine war caused US to cut a lot of connections to Russia, and as Bruhity has told me, VK Video requires you to put in your phone number, something that puts you more at risk than giving your ID to YT, because that phone number could very well lead to you getting doxxed by multiple Russian hackers.
There's BitView, a niche 2000's YT emulation, that much like Glomble, is REALLY indie. It too is a very small place, but surprisingly, there are people who rather use BitView than any of the other replacements listed above. Unfortunately, I'm not even gonna mention Vidlii, just know that it's BitView, without the rose tinted glasses, or as someone has said before on a video, it's 2000's YT in it's most primordial form: Degeneracy. If you have a decision on whether of these two to use, it's BitView you should use instead.
Watching YouTube.. in Private!
So, you've chosen your replacement, and began signing up to websites. Congratulations! However, you've managed to stumble across one tiny problem.. If you were to line up every replacement's library I've listed so far, it would still be a raindrop compared to YT's omega-sized library, and unfortunately, there are still people on the platform who still uses it as a living. Luckily for you, you have a tool that can fix that!
FreeTube is a private YouTube client meant to disable telemetry, meaning you can now watch and scroll YouTube more privately, and since user data is stored locally, your viewing habits will not be tracked by anyone apart from you and whoever else is using the computer that day.
Stuck on mobile? No problem! There are two equivalents for mobile: NewPipe/Tubular, and LibreTube! Both support the ability to export your history from it's platform to FreeTube, and all three even support the ability to import your entire SUBSCRIPTIONS from YT to it's platform.
For more information on how to do that, there's a tutorial for FreeTube, LibreTube, in the FAQ section, and NewPipe.
Migrating to a new Platform
So, you just got finished setting up FreeTube, Tubular, or Libretube, and you're ready to take the next step.
If you're using any other replacement, I suggest using Stacher, putting your uploads into a playlist, then bulk downloading them via said playlist.
Assuming you're using Odysee, and want to move there instead while carrying over your older content, you're in luck, as a fellow by the name of OctogonalSoftware has made the perfect tool for you to migrate: the YT-to-Odysee Migration Script! With this tool, you don't have to restart your library just to move to Odysee, but now, you can bring all of your favorite videos to the platform, with only a minor cost (your time)!
Now unfortunately, I cannot list the full tutorial, as this Rentry is already getting long enough as is. Instead, I will now link you the Github for the script/tool, as well as the tutorial video on both YT and Odysee, so that you may follow it on your own pace.
And with that, it's your move now, and you know now how to start cutting off support for YT. I suggest reading the next guide in this project, as they will be important for your next step: entirely replacing Google - a process that has multiple caviots and multiple potential roadblocks.