The Act Man demonetized on YouTube after criticizing platform

YouTuber Kelly ‘The Act Man’ Van Achte has had his channel demonetized on YouTube after he criticized the platform for failing to enforce its own community guidelines against creator ‘Quantum TV.’

A back and forth battle between The Act Man and Quantum TV has now led to The Act Man being demonetized from YouTube entirely – all of which stemmed from a YouTube video back in April, in which The Act Man used sections of Quantum TV’s Elden Ring video.

In response, Quantum TV threatened to issue a copyright infringement notice, despite The Act Man claiming the video was fair use. Ultimately, the copyright notice was rejected by YouTube.

However, Act Man pursued the termination of Quantum’s channel, under the grounds that he abused and issued a false copyright strike – which can result in a channel being shut down, according to the platform’s own rules.

Quantum continued by “seeking other options” outside of YouTube to have Act Man’s video removed, which spiraled out of control over the last few months when Quantum allegedly threatened Act Man’s family with doxing and violence. The YouTuber supposedly even reached out to Act Man’s mother saying, “We wouldn’t want families to get hurt or involved in this.”

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On May 9, Quantum requested the removal of “all defamatory posts,” claiming he’d threatened Act Man’s mother with violence and doxxing. The creator then alluded that the police are investigating criminal activity that Act Man had made against him, and suggested that his mother would be dragged into the lawsuit if it went to trial.

A series of leaked Discord messages on May 19 revealed Quantum admitted the whole situation was blown out of proportion. However, he continued by saying he wished the “most painful death on everyone involved in this massive smear campaign.”

Despite the evidence that Act Man collected and provided to YouTube, which supposedly proved Quantum had breached multiple community guidelines, the platform’s support team confirmed that YouTube’s specialists “did not find any violations.”

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Furthermore, Act Man’s YouTube video discussing the verdict on Quantum TV’s actions and criticizing YouTube for not enforcing its rules was removed from the platform. On June 7, the creator provided a screenshot of the community guideline strike he received, which was in breach of nudity and sexual content. Other videos from Act Man then followed, with two more in the span of an hour being demonetized and age-restricted.

The popular creator with over 1.5M subscribers was then contacted by his YouTube partner, who told him he’d eventually be entirely demonetized. “My YouTube partner just reached out to me to inform me that at some point I will be removed from the YouTube Partner Program and my channel will be completely demonetized,” Act Man wrote in a tweet.

A day later on June 8, Act Man revealed he’d officially been demonetized from the entire platform, with all of his videos unable to make revenue, prompting the #JusticeForActMan to trend online.

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However, YouTube’s response clarified that Act Man’s suspension from the platform’s partner program was due to a now-deleted tweet where Act Man sarcastically threatened to dox the families of YouTube employees & creators.

While Act Man noted his mistake, he hit back at YouTube, claiming that common sense would suggest being a victim of doxing means he would never wish it on others.

Despite repeatedly telling his audience not to attack anyone involved, including YouTube employees and Quantum TV, Act Man is now left questioning the future of his channel now it’s been demonetized.