YouTube Cracks Down on Popular Conservative Steven Crowder After Campaign by Liberal Media Personality
Prominent conservative commentator and comedian Steven Crowder had his ability to gain revenue from advertisements placed on his YouTube channel suspended Wednesday.
YouTube, which has long been accused of left-leaning bias by conservatives, announced its decision to demonetize Crowder with a public statement on Twitter.
It cited “a pattern of egregious actions” by the creator which “harmed the broader community” and were deemed to be against the company’s YouTube Partner Program policies.
Update on our continued review–we have suspended this channel’s monetization. We came to this decision because a pattern of egregious actions has harmed the broader community and is against our YouTube Partner Program policies. More here: https://t.co/VmOce5nbGy
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) June 5, 2019
“We have suspended this channel’s monetization. We came to this decision because a pattern of egregious actions has harmed the broader community and is against our YouTube Partner Program policies,” the tweet stated.
YouTube also attached a link to a post made on its Creator Blog in February 2018, in which it had announced that it would be making a stronger commitment to upholding Community and Ad-Friendly Guidelines.
The company’s decision was a surprise, however, as it came amid complaints made against Crowder by Carlos Maza — a political commentator at Vox who claimed the conservative personality had been harassing him on the platform.
And YouTube had responded to Maza’s complaints less than 24 hours earlier, saying it would not be taking action to remove the content in question or demonetize Crowder.
Maza first detailed the “online harassment” in a string of more than 20 tweets riddled with profanity, calling Crowder a homophobe, a “racist” and a “monster” — among other things.
“So, I have pretty thick skin when it comes to online harassment, but something has been really bothering me,” Maza wrote on Twitter last week.
“Since I started working at Vox, Steven Crowder has been making video after video ‘debunking’ Strikethrough,” he continued. “Every single video has included repeated, overt attacks on my sexual orientation and ethnicity.”
Maza went on to provide soundbites of Crowder’s segments fact-checking videos produced at Vox, and making jokes about Maza’s sexuality, appearance and more.
Since I started working at Vox, Steven Crowder has been making video after video “debunking” Strikethrough. Every single video has included repeated, overt attacks on my sexual orientation and ethnicity. Here’s a sample: pic.twitter.com/UReCcQ2Elj
— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 31, 2019
In his lengthy rebuke of Crowder, Maza also took aim at YouTube, claiming that he did not “give a flying f—” about “silencing conservatives” but was very upset the platform had not taken action against Crowder and other “hateful” figures.
YouTube’s initial response via Twitter indicated that it had conducted a review of Crowder’s work — which lasted multiple days — and found he was not in violation of the site’s terms of service, though his words may have been hurtful.
(2/4) Our teams spent the last few days conducting an in-depth review of the videos flagged to us, and while we found language that was clearly hurtful, the videos as posted don’t violate our policies. We’ve included more info below to explain this decision:
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) June 4, 2019
(4/4) Even if a video remains on our site, it doesn’t mean we endorse/support that viewpoint.
There are other aspects of the channel that we’re still evaluating– we’ll be in touch with any further updates.
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) June 4, 2019
“Our teams spent the last few days conducting an in-depth review of the videos flagged to us, and while we found language that was clearly hurtful, the videos as posted don’t violate our policies,” the company wrote.
YouTube proceeded to explain that, though it did not support what Crowder said, the company felt it had a responsibility to free speech and providing an open platform for all people, regardless of their politics or insensitive jokes, so long as their words did not incite violence.
Of course, company officials would make an about face on that claim the following morning and demonetize Crowder.
Crowder responded hours later, posting a video on Twitter to tell his followers that he had already spoken with his lawyer and officials at YouTube about the matter.
In the video, Crowder warned about another “Adpocalypse” that would likely be having an impact on conservative entertainers on the site soon.
A message about YouTube and the #VoxAdpocalypse pic.twitter.com/B5RL5O1bvy
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) June 5, 2019
“The new Adpocalypse is coming. It’s coming for a lot of you. It’s coming hard. It’s going to be happening fast and strong, and it’s probably going to be happening to a lot more of you than you realize,” Crowder said.
“Our channel is not going anywhere right now,” Crowder continued. “But the ability for one to make a living online — and not just on YouTube, but any social media, but particularly YouTube — is about to change drastically. And I would say more than ever before.”
Crowder also said that he would be providing more updates on what YouTube had told him privately in a live web-show Wednesday night.
The Western Journal will provide updates as they become available.
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