YouTube forces popular music bot Vexera to discontinue its functionality
A popular music bot for Discord has been forced to discontinue its music functionality after receiving a cease and desist notice from YouTube, which is owned by Google. The music bot provided a way for people to listen to synchronized music in voice chat on Discord by searching and streaming audio from YouTube videos. Now, the closure serves as a reminder that Discord’s perks are subject to the decisions of the mega-corporation allowing them.
Vexera, which was active in over 3 million Discord servers, received the notice from YouTube and is complying with their demands. The music bot’s Discord application is being pulled from the platform, and any users who attempt to stream music from it will be met with a pop-up that reads “Vexera is no longer available.”
Neither Vexera nor Groovy, another popular music bot that was shut down by Google two years ago, have disclosed the exact reasons for YouTube’s legal action.
Two years ago, Google gave Groovy a cease and desist notice that stated the music bot violated its terms of service by modifying the service and using it for commercial purposes. Google stated that Groovy’s closure was to ensure a “level playing field” for developers.
YouTube has not made any public statements regarding music bots on Discord since Groovy’s shutdown. It’s likely that Google is taking issue with music bots bypassing YouTube’s ads and offering paid premium memberships without sharing profits with Google.
The closure of Groovy in 2021 raised concerns about the future of all music bots on Discord. However, Google has not aggressively targeted music bots since then, and some still remain on the platform.
Additionally, Discord’s introduction of its officially-sanctioned YouTube Watch Together app in 2022 did not lead to the elimination of music bots. It’s possible that remaining music bots have gone unnoticed by Google due to their small user base.
The closure of Vexera is a loss for Discord users who enjoyed the convenience of music bots in their voice chats. The fate of other music bots on the platform remains unclear.
It’s unclear if Google will continue to target Discord’s features or if Discord will become less accessible to free users. The company has been making more money from its users, and the discontinuation of Vexera’s music functionality highlights the vulnerability of Discord’s services.
