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Vlogger Vs Lush: Cosmetics giant in YouTube domain clash

Robin Langford

A popular YouTube star has hit out at Lush after losing his decade-old domain to the cosmetics retailer.

Matthew Lush has been using the YouTube address youtube.com/lush since 2005, but has found that fans vising that domain are now being redirected to the beauty brand (and also his namesake) instead.

Speaking to the BBC, the brand claims it has not requested the change but would not say if it would give the address back.

In a statement, Google said it was “sympathetic” to Mr Lush’s situation and that the decision was made by an algorithm.

Last year, Google started letting YouTube creators customise their channel addresses. The web giant claims that its algorithm decided which address Lush Cosmetics was given, based on data from YouTube, Google+, its search engine and other sources.

Mr Lush, who has 10 times as many YouTube subscribers as the soap brand, told the BBC he felt “betrayed”.

View his protest video posted on a new YouTube domain here:

Google said Mr Lush was a “valued creator” and that it had offered to pay for new marketing materials for his channel.

A spokeswoman told the BBC: “We’re not in a position to give it back to him, but we want to work productively with Matt.”

Mr Lush’s fans have set up a petition to ask the cosmetics company to hand over the web address.

One fan even posted pictures of herself burning Lush products on Twitter.

Like many YouTube stars, Mr Lush earns a living from advertisements displayed around his content.

View some of the tweets below:

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