It's official. GreedTube has been shut down by YouTube. Just days after I interviewed GreedTube founder Noah Hayes, the service disappeared and visitors were forwarded to YouTube's website. Noah contacted me saying,

I recently received a cease and desist order from Youtube, so the site has been shut down. This probably isn't much of a surprise. However, within the next month, Axle Networks will be announcing a new venture which involves user generated content and paid incentives. Unlike GreedTube, we've been working on this new site for a few months now. I'll keep you up to date as to when we plan to launch and hopefully can provide more details soon.

This news isn't surprising at all, and GreedTube survived longer than most people probably expected. In our interview, Noah said,

The fact is, we're big fans of YouTube and our imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Moral of the story? Company lawyers aren't flattered by imitation.