Lessons Learned from My Account Suspension on Audius: The Limits of Blockchain and the Importance of Owning Your Content

Recently, I had a shocking experience on the music sharing platform Audius.

Although the service claims to be a blockchain-based platform, my account was suddenly suspended due to a DMCA claim. I learned that despite being blockchain-based, the platform still holds the power to easily suspend individual accounts.

The Circumstances of the Account Suspension

One day, I received a notification that my account had been suspended as a result of someone sending a DMCA claim against me. Shocked, I immediately contacted support to investigate what had happened. Support told me that if I answered a quiz about copyright and passed, my account would be reinstated. Eventually, my account was restored, but the lessons I learned from this experience are invaluable.

The Myth of ‘Blockchain Equals Safety’ Never Existed to Begin With

Blockchain technology is considered a symbol of trust for many people because its data is stored in a distributed manner and is extremely difficult to tamper with. However, my experience showed that, even on a blockchain-based platform, the operators still have the power to easily suspend individual accounts. I even thought, ‘What’s the point of using blockchain then?’

Blockchain technology doesn’t guarantee absolute security when it comes to account manipulation and data handling.

The Importance of Owning Your Content

From this experience, I felt the danger of depending on someone else’s platform. Just like YouTube can suddenly suspend a YouTuber’s account, blockchain-based platform Audius can also suddenly suspend an Audius user’s account.

Therefore, an important action for creators is to ‘own and manage your content yourself.’ (For example, using self-hosting software like WordPress to host your data.) Using other people’s platforms might be convenient, but how to manage and publish your own data will be a major issue in the future digital society.

Conclusion

My experience on Audius demonstrates that as technology evolves, our understanding and perceptions around its usage also need to evolve. While appreciating the convenience and security that blockchain-based platforms offer, let’s not forget the importance of self-responsibility and self-management as we move into the future digital world.