Amos Yee, a man-child with too much free time, is left without a YouTube channel.

This was after YouTube terminated Yee's account, according to him.

This is confirmed as a search on YouTube does not throw up his account anymore.

At last count, it had more than 40,000 subscribers.

The most severe implication of Yee's account termination is that he might not be allowed back on YouTube again to create content.

YouTube's rules clearly state that users whose accounts have been terminated may be prohibited from accessing, possessing, or creating any other YouTube channels.

Pro-paedophilia views

Yee's YouTube channel termination is most likely the result of his persistent defence of paedophilia the past several months.

Paedophilia is a highly-sensitive topic even in the United States, where Yee fled to, that will undoubtedly provoke widespread public opprobrium and run afoul of formal and informal decency guidelines.

In November 2017, Yee posted a series of videos that speak for paedophilia.

In total, he made three videos arguing that paedophilia is acceptable in principle. They were published on Nov. 15, 17 and 20.

The 19-year-old then received death threats.

These videos were put up barely two months after he was granted asylum status there and released from detention.

Violate YouTube guidelines

Yee's YouTube channel termination is not surprising though.

YouTube has put in place robust community guidelines with clear signposts about what is permissible or not on its platform.

Very broadly, even though Yee's account termination would have come suddenly, it most likely only came after he had accumulated three consecutive Community Guideline strikes in less than three months.

YouTube three strikes

When a strike is issued, it is because the video has violated a guideline.

The entity who uploaded the video would be informed of the reasons for the video's removal, so as not to allow it to happen again.

A second strike within a three-month period will prevent the channel's account holder from uploading new content for two weeks.

The third strike will result in the termination of the channel without further warning.

The content uploader is allowed to appeal strikes, but only once with no other appeals allowed to be made in 60 days. This system is to prevent repeated appeals.

Yee's second strike came in early April:

Child endangerment policy

YouTube has specifically stated in its child endangerment policy one clear violation that would result in immediate account termination:

Uploading, commenting, or engaging in any type of activity that sexualises minors will immediately result in an account termination.

There were clear indications Yee was aware about his impending YouTube channel shutdown.

Over the past year, YouTube has demonetised a large number of videos that dabbled in controversial topics, by pulling ads from those videos. This practice limited the payoff for creators that peddled shock and sensationalism.

This might be considered a separate issue, but some of Yee's videos were affected, which limited the payout he received.

In recent weeks, Yee has turned to promoting his personal blog and Facebook page as outlets to fall back on.

He has also upped the ante with regards to begging for donations from the public via a crowdfunding platform to feed his video-making and writing hobbies.

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Previously, Yee had his Twitter account suspended and was temporarily banned from Facebook for 30 days for bullying.

Yee was also kicked out of a foster home previously, due to his pro-paedophilia views. His continued presence in the home was deemed to be untenable as there were other children under foster care.

The irony is that Yee's avenues for speech are increasingly becoming narrower and his relevance diminished, after he left Singapore for the US to seek asylum as he said he was persecuted here for his views.