Alex Trelinski
A PRODUCER of YouTube content is suing Google Spain for wrongful dismissal in a case that could set a precedent for content creators’ employment rights, according to the UGT trade union.
Google Spain and YouTube are both owned by parent company Alphabet Inc.
The legal challenge aims to show an employment relationship between Jota, a creator of political satire videos- whose real name has not been disclosed- and YouTube because he regularly provided his services and received remuneration derived from advertising revenue.
Google Spain blocked Jota’s YouTube channel ‘Ultimo Bastion’ (Last Bastion) from earning advertising revenue from August onwards.
He claims the company withdrew money that was already in his YouTube payments account.
Jota’s channel has included left-wing political satire videos usually using feeds from official channels such as Congress and local councils.
It launched in 2015 and has 18,000 subscribers watching the feeds being overlaid with subtitles and special effects to support Jota’s views.
The UGT did not comment on the reasons for advertising revenue to his channel being pulled.
Google said that content creators are not employees and that in this particular case Jota’s channel did not comply with YouTube monetisation policies.
“We are deeply committed to the success of creators, which is why we share the majority of revenues with them,” said Google Spain in a statement.
“We gather a lot of feedback when we meet with hundreds of creators each year, but contrary to what is claimed, they are not employees of YouTube.”
A Madrid court will hear the case next June.
