"your YouTube channel is no longer eligible for monetization because it doesn’t meet the new threshold of 4,000 hours of watchtime within the past 12 months and 1,000 subscribers." so that's what youtube is doing now?
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It helps prevent other channels from stealing videos and subsequently stealing views/revenue
Channels that sit bellow about 50k that make say art or animations often have them stollen by bot channels grinding the algorithm for money. I think this is an attempt to protect the YouTubers who are too small to be protected from spammers