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| YouTube fights discord bots |
Google-owned YouTube has started cracking down on Discord music bots.
The search giant has sent a stop request to the owner of the popular Groovy bot, which enables Discord users to play music from YouTube videos and is installed on more than 16 million Discord servers.
Google expects the service to be gone within 7 days and owner Groovy has promised to shut down the bot on August 30th.
Google confirmed that it had taken action on the matter, saying: "We have notified Groovy of a violation of our Terms of Use, including modifying and using the Service for commercial purposes."
"The API is for developers who adhere to the terms of use," she added.
Nick Amerlan, owner of Groovy robot, said in a letter announcing the closure: “Groovy has been an important part of my life for the past five years.
Groovy bot pulls music sources from YouTube and allows Discord users to play and share them on the server where the bot is installed.
Groovy bot enables social listening evenings via Discord, using primarily audio from YouTube videos.
It has become very popular over the past five years and is estimated to have more than 250 million users.
“I don't know why I decided now to file a request for a moratorium,” Amerlan said. Frankly, they may not realize it.
Amerlan admitted that the Groovy bot has been a heavy burden on his shoulders for the past five years and that Google has always been worth the wait.
YouTube fights discord bots
Although the Groovy bot supports Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud and other services, almost 98% of the tracks played through the Groovy bot come from YouTube.
Google's decision to disable Groovy Bots could mean similar action against owners of other Discord software.
Rhythm is Discord's most popular music robot that still exists today. In a message to the user community, one of the bot owners wrote, “We have no plans to shutdown at this time.
Rhythm is installed on nearly 20 million Discord servers. He said it has more than 560 million users as a result.
The shutdown of the Groovy bot came a few weeks after several YouTube video download sites accidentally disappeared. Removing this bot also creates a huge void in the bot product on Discord.
A Discord spokesperson said, “We take the rights of others very seriously. We ask developers who create bots for our platform to do the same. If a bot running through Discord infringes the rights of others, a third party or Discord can take action.”