Tanzania: Diamond Platnumz’s YouTube channel restored

Hackers are reported to have taken over the account on Sunday and aired content going against the platform’s terms of service, which led to its termination. But as of Tuesday morning, the account had been restored.

According to the musician’s management company, Wasafi, YouTube informed them of suspicious activity before suspending the account. 

Wasafi digital administrator Majidi Ramadhani said YouTube had secured the channel before suspending it. “We actually did receive an email from YouTube informing us that they had suspended the channel and asked for an explanation. We have been dealing with that and the account should be back anytime,” Ramadhani told Nation.Africa on Monday.

Wasafi digital head Ackim Ndolo said Diamond Platnumz’s team had responded to all queries by YouTube and was waiting for further feedback.

The bongo flava musician joined the streaming platform in 2011 and has so far garnered more than 6.6 million subscribers. He is the first sub-Saharan artist to reach more than 1.6 billion views on the platform.

Should he have lost the account, he would be staring at the loss of one of his major revenue streams, which reportedly brings in about 80 million Tanzanian shillings ($35 000) monthly.

Ramadhani said that with the channel’s suspension, the artist had suffered some financial loss. “Definitely with such activities, there is a significant amount of money lost. But what is important is securing the channel and having it back.”

Although Diamond Platnumz has a big number of YouTube subscribers on the continent, his video views are yet to surpass those of his West African counterparts.

Below are African musicians with the most YouTube subscribers:

• Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania) – 6.6 million 
• Rayvanny (Tanzania) – 3.68 million 
• Harmonize (Tanzania) – 3.21 million 
• Davido (Nigeria) – 2.93 million 
• Fally Ipupa (DRC) – 2.84 million 
• Flavour – 2.56 million 
• CKay (Nigeria) – 3.06 million 
• Burna Boy (Nigeria) – 2.44 million 
• Wizkid (Nigeria) – 2.37 million 
• Tekno (Nigeria) – 2.05 million