Vidlii
VidLii is a video hosting website that was created by Jan-Nick Eula who went as a user named Jan, in December 2015 as an alternative and similar look to YouTube. The website is designed to resemble the early days of YouTube, with a classic and nostalgic look interface that is taken back to the mid 2000s.
Contents
History
Early Years In 2015, the first ever version was created under the name "ClipBits". The site looked to be the 2005 version of what YouTube once looked like in the early days, just without having alot of features on the main page. In August 2016, the site look was updated to the 2006 version of YouTube until a few months later when Jan decided to change his website name to "VidBit" due to copyright purposes. It then was changed to the late 2008-2009 YouTube version. The site later within the year after changed the name to "VidLii" in 2017. For most of the year, it provided many updates using the TestLii program for testing and experimenting with new features.
ClipBits
In 2015, a user from Sweden who went by Jan was inspired to begin a project to create his own video hosting platform that represented the old days of the early web by using an idea of YouTube's 2005 layout to create the website. The idea was to fight back against big tech and to maintain the past with an archiveal look. In August 2016, the name "ClipBits" later had to be changed due to its name similarity to a website named Clipbit.
VidBit
In 2016, after ClipBits was updated to the 2006 version of YouTube due to technical difficulties, the name was changed to VidBit a few months later following a copyright claim on the name. With new features being added on, the website was updated once more to represent 2008-2009 era of YouTube. In 2017, more work was being done to the website as Vidbit was changed to Vidlii. Following VidBits dissolvement, other users would take the archive of it and make it into their own project making it its own separate website.
Transfer of ownership
In February 2022, Jan sold VidLii to a new user who would become the new owner Lolwut. A few days later, VidLii had went down for a short period of time to transfer the servers to the new owners. Lolwut announced on his own blog that one of his friends had stepped down and left the site due to low moderation where it would soon all come crashing down and become a shock site.
Past Controversies
After the takeover by Lolwut in 2022, VidLii became a safe haven for content promoting gore with others hosting National Socialist videos (some being larp) attempting to try and takeover and make Vidlii better. Vidlii has had low moderation with random stuff getting posted different times whether it be gore or ads, while freedom of speech is promoted, there is prohibition on pornography and animal cruelty. Many users had left as a result of Vidliis unexpected downfall while it remains active and continues regulating. A few YouTube content creators tried to introduce their audience to Vidlii in a much more positive light when they first came across it, but unexpectedly stumble upon "offensive" content at random, further damaging the sites reputation.
Gore and shock content
After being taken over by Lolwut making Vidlii its own free speech site, it made users want to post whatever they want as long as it abides by the rules evolving around porn and animal abuse. Very little amounts of disturbing material was uploaded by random trolls to sabotage the site and ruin its once loved reputation by the public. In 2023 Vidlii suffered a major spam and raid attack with child porn and animal abuse flooding the site which caused a shut down and restart with its new policies being further updated. On September 26, 2024 policies have been updated regarding the restriction of such content where on settings users can choose whether or not to display such material
terrorist attack by users
•Skreewie
A user who went by the name "Skreewie" launched an attack that took many other users on Vidlii by surprise and caused media outrage after the footage was afterwards reuploaded. Governments in Turkey demanded for the website to get removed impacting Vidiis future and making it look bad on the owner.
•Sturmgeist189
A user who went by the name Sturmgeist189 had published his manifesto in a pdf file and planned a shooting at a school in Helenski, Finland. Planning the attack since May, he developed hatred for how society has become and decided to act on his attack. Some users have encouraged him not to do it with others cheering him on. On November 6, 2024 about 32 people were confirmed dead with 233 injured after a bomb detonated, shots were exchanged with Finnish police but were missed. The shooter headed back inside the school bathroom and shot himself in the head attempting suicide but survived and was sent to the hospital. The suspect was later diagnosed to be considered mentally ill and recieved no prison time and was instead sent to a mental hospital. Following the tragic event, on November 12th 2024, authorities had logged into his account and terminated his channel over safety concerns.
Changes
On November 22, 2024 a new co owner named Aniti was chosen by Lolwut to be enrolled onto the platform which winded up creating new rules and adding restrictions onto the site following the the use of no promoting "terrorist ideologies" in which ideas like National Socialism would have to be used to not promote any form or encouragement of terrorism. Many users were banned following the new rule causing them to flee to better platforms due to the co owners abuse of power.
