Under no obligation
"YouTube are under no obligation to provide anyone except their employees with an income."
And in fact as a publicly traded company, are legally and ethically bound to maximize profit at the expense of their customers and uploaders, which will inevitably be done in a way to ruin many of them once they are in a monopoly position. In other words, YouTube's behavior is the inevitable and perfectly normal result of unfettered capitalism.
Not saying capitalism is bad, and certainly not saying I know of anything better, but this is what its darker side looks like. Well, the true dark side is people defending YouTube's unethical behavior on the basis that "they can do it, and it maximizes profit, therefore it is OK that they do."
Biting the hand that feeds IT
