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Google is forcing Discord music bots offline, issuing a cease and desist notice to the makers of a second high-profile program in less than three weeks.
According to The Verge (opens in new tab), YouTube has sent a notice to the owners of Rythm, which allows Discord users to play the audio from YouTube videos within voice channels. The programmers were given seven days to comply, and as a result, the program will shut down on September 15.
Speaking to The Verge, Rythm’s creator says that their team “knew this was due to happen eventually,” due in no small part to the recent shuttering of Groovy (opens in new tab), another popular bot that worked in a similar way to Rythm. Following its own cease and desist notice last month, Groovy’s service came to an end on August 30.
At the time of writing, Rythm is installed on more than 20 million Discord servers, granting access to more than 560 million users. Groovy was slightly smaller, installed over 16 million servers, but Rythm’s creator says they expect YouTube to chase down all of the music bots available on the platform.
Google confirmed that Groovy violated YouTube’s terms of service by modifying the service and using it for commercial purposes, and while there’s been no confirmation as yet, it’s likely Rythm was targeted for the same reasons. It’s also likely that Google wasn’t thrilled by the bots’ ability to bypass advertising, granting users access to audio that would otherwise be monetized.
PlayStation’s Discord partnership is set to start early next year.
