3.2 YouTubers of the world, unite! What happens when a grassroots, international creators’ movement and a traditional trade union join forces? Thanks to the efforts of the YouTubers Union and IG Metall, content creators on the platform now have greater transpar­ency, arbitration power, clearer rules, better communication and greater participation. By Jelena Prtorić  1 Jörg Sprave built his first slingshot at the age of six but didn’t think of pursuing his hobby further until almost 40 years later. At that time Sprave, who holds a degree in economics, worked for a video editing software company. As they needed video content to test YouTube uploads, Sprave decided to film himself making slingshots. Five years later, in 2013, Sprave decided to become a full-time, pro­fessional YouTuber. On the Slingshot Channel , he has been publishing tutorials in English and reviews about self-made slingshots, cross­bows, knives and airguns. His account has amassed over 433 million views and is followed by more than 2.6 million people. Back in 2012, when YouTube opened its Partner Program to every­body, content creators could easily monetise their videos, provided they had enough views and avoided controversial(sexual or violent) content and language. But in 2017, a series of scandals shook the platform when some advertisements were played alongside videos promoting extremism and hate speech . Several major companies 1 Jelena Prtorić is a journalist reporting from South-Eastern Europe on politics, human rights, culture and the environment. 40 Tech Workers Unionise