Right after Assistant District Attorney Thomas Binger began his closing statement into the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial, YouTube cut off the channels beating out mainstream media networks. The Rekieta Law channel, which features multiple lawyers doing real-time analysis of the trial, often beat the number of people watching the PBS stream. The PBS stream is one of the more reliable ones available to YouTube users and was being used by several outlets.
Nick Rekieta reminded YouTube that ten lawyers considered it a breach of contract to cut them off, but Rekieta wasn’t the only stream cut-off. Dan Abrams’s Law & Crime channel was also cut off. Ticking off channels featuring dozens of lawyers seemed like a bad business plan. Within a few minutes, the stream was put back up after Rekieta reminded the tech giant that the courtroom coverage was public property and therefore not under copyright.
For a few minutes there, it was bedlam for those of us who like to view different streams to cover the trial — especially streams featuring lawyers who know the facts of the case.
YouTube knew very well how many tens of thousands of people were watching other-than-legacy media and cut them off. After it cut off Rekieta Law, the legal channel still had 60,000+ people who came back to watch.
Makes you wonder who is pushing the button.
