Shane Dawson rumored to have lost thousands after ‘Conspiracy Series’ gets demonetized

Popular YouTuber Shane Dawson unveiled his new ‘Conspiracy’ series on January 30, much to the delight of his fanbase.

While the first installment of the series already boasts over nine million views as of January 31, Dawson’s long-awaited documentary received the yellow dollar sign from YouTube – and he may have lost thousands due to the demonetization.

Fans took notice of the issue shortly after the first episode went live, noting that its previous advertisements had been completely removed from the video altogether.

While YouTube’s new algorithm could be to blame for the debacle (as the platform recently cracked down on recommendations for ‘conspiracy’ content), it so happens that Dawson used footage of a dangerous prank, which spurred the site’s automatic review system.

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However, YouTube has since reviewed the issue, concluding that nothing was inherently wrong with his inclusion of the footage as he was merely discussing pranks – not directly promoting them.

“Sometimes we get it wrong when determining whether a video is suitable for advertising, so we encourage creators to appeal for a review if they think there’s been an error,” YouTube said of the issue. “We work quickly to restore advertising as soon as we’re made aware of a mistake.”

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The Verge figured that Dawson may have lost over $14 thousand in AdSense during the 12 hour window in which his video went demonetized – although their numbers are up for debate, considering the success of Dawson’s other projects.

Dawson himself spoke on the debacle via Twitter, writing, “Oh yeah. I’ve never made money on my conspiracy videos and I’ve had some removed. It’s the risk of being into this dark shit, I guess!”