YouTube has just removed all of its most controversial videos in a shocking and unexpected blanket move, leaving many stunned as important pieces of the platform's history are erased.
Like all social media platforms, YouTube is what it is because of the content that its users upload, and few people actually pay attention to or care about what the company itself is producing.
It's creators that drive innovation and have become the 'stars' that people flock to over the years, yet there used to be a way for YouTube itself to celebrate this success in a yearly tradition.
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For some it might mostly be before their time, but YouTube Rewind was a yearly tradition that a large percentage of the website's user base tuned into at the end of every year, running from 2010 to 2019.
Unfortunately it did ultimately crash and burn with the last few editions proving to be unbelievably unpopular and controversial when they released, yet they are still fun to look back on as time capsules of what YouTube used to be.
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As shared by u/sitkinator on the r/youtube subreddit, you won't be able to do that anymore though, as YouTube has officially removed every single edition of YouTube Rewind, leaving people with technically no way to watch them whether it was for hate or love.
One saving grace is that these are merely 'unlisted' as opposed to deleted, meaning that they can still be viewed if you have the link or have saved the video in a playlist. You won't have any luck if you try and search for them though, as nothing will appear.
While people might have had issues with various instalments over the years, it all began to really fall apart with the release of 'YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind'.
Not only is the single most disliked video in YouTube history – earning over 20.35 million dislikes – but it also holds a disastrous like-to-dislike ratio, with over 86.6 percent of viewers opting to downvote the video.
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It was heavily criticized for including numerous outdated or unpopular jokes and trends, focusing on several celebrities that were more popular outside of the YouTube world, and snubbing some of the more popular rivalries of the year — partially due to controversy surrounding Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg's use of the n-word.
YouTube Rewind 2019 wasn't quite as bad, earning 'only' 9.6 million dislikes with a 73.3 percent ratio, but the damage was already done and the yearly celebration was canned after that.
It's still surprising that YouTube has removed them now all these years later, and many on social media have criticized the move from a preservation standpoint, even with specific playlists being created that allow people to watch them again.
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"I really don't understand why YouTube didn't just accept they had a bad rewind and try and make up for it the following year," one user writes. "The rewinds are fun little time capsules to look back on to see what people were mostly interested in that year and what was popular.
"I really hate that so many companies seem to take the mindset of 'this one thing failed that must mean that all of this stuff is hated'," the comment continued.
"Damn wtf. What's the point of this," writes another comment, with a third noting that it "feels weird they'd do this years later."