Just one day after YouTube said that conservative commentator Steven Crowder did not violate its policies in videos in which he poked fun at a gay journalist at Vox.com, the video platform has reversed itself.
YouTube on Wednesday announced on Twitter that it would demonetize Crowder due to a “pattern of egregious actions” that “harmed the broader community.”
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
YouTube later clarified that Crowder could be reinstated if he “addresses all of the issues with his channel” and removes a link to his tee shirts.
Sorry for the confusion, we were responding to your tweets about the T-shirts. Again, this channel is demonetized due to continued egregious actions that have harmed the broader community. To be reinstated, he will need to address all of the issues with his channel.
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) June 5, 2019
In a blog post titled “Our ongoing work to tackle hate,” YouTube touted its efforts to “protect the YouTube community from harmful content.”
This work has focused on four pillars: removing violative content, raising up authoritative content, reducing the spread of borderline content and rewarding trusted creators. Thanks to these investments, videos that violate our policies are removed faster than ever and users are seeing less borderline content and harmful misinformation. As we do this, we’re partnering closely with lawmakers and civil society around the globe to limit the spread of violent extremist content online.
YouTube identified several types of videos that would no longer be allowed on the platform. “This would include, for example, videos that promote or glorify Nazi ideology, which is inherently discriminatory. Finally, we will remove content denying that well-documented violent events, like the Holocaust or the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, took place,” the post read.
Of course, Crowder’s channel violates none of those things, which does not bode well for countless other YouTube channels that voice politically incorrect right-wing opinions.
The comedian quickly posted a video explaining what would happen next.
“The new adpocalypse is coming. It’s coming for a lot of you,” he predicted. “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 also predicted that despite YouTube’s actions, Vox would not be satisfied.
“Vox is still going to be pissed; they’re not going to be happy with this,” Crowder said in a video posted to his Twitter account after learning about YouTube’s action. Crowder has more than 3.7 million subscribers on YouTube.
“It’s not a win,” he continued, “because their goal is to completely get rid of people. We’re at a point in time right now where people can still have a voice, but a lot of people are going to lose their ability to lose revenue.”
A message about YouTube and the #VoxAdpocalypse pic.twitter.com/B5RL5O1bvy
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) June 5, 2019
As Crowder predicted, Vox was “pissed.”
YouTube: *demonetizes @scrowder*
Crowder: “Vox is still gonna be pissed. They’re not gonna be happy with this because their goal is to completely get rid of people.”
Vox: pic.twitter.com/lQEZHyIBxT
— Anders Hagstrom (@Hagstrom_Anders) June 5, 2019
And then the platform began demonetizing channels at a rapid pace.
Channels are being fully demonetized at a insane rate. I can’t keep up! #VoxAdpocalypse pic.twitter.com/j7EdwzKvMp
— KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) June 5, 2019
I’m getting dms and tweets.
It looks like every channel that does not side with far left politics is getting their monetisation taken away.
Carlos Maza just fucked over an entire genre of YouTube, because one man said something mean to him.
This will not go well.
— Count Dankula🏴 (@CountDankulaTV) June 5, 2019
Independent journalists already being hit by #VoxAdpocalypse https://t.co/AnyVp0uvPb
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) June 5, 2019
#VoxAdpocalypse has shut down educational channels. Where does this end?
We’re giving live updates right now on our livestream. Tune in!https://t.co/kFJEzG2tuN https://t.co/wEFhMBzYKC
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) June 5, 2019
Did you notice how the the cry baby waited until the kickoff to gay pride month to begin his campaign to take down @scrowder so he could leverage it for maximum outrage? What a sly devil he is. It actually worked. #VoxAdpocolypse
— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) June 6, 2019
Carlos Maza, the Vox journalist/activist who started the campaign against Crowder supposedly because of his “hateful” videos, last month ironically called for physical attacks against right-wingers “to make them dread organizing.”
Why is this liberal activist calling for violence against conservatives? Are other liberals calling for him to be fired from Vox? If they believe in their alleged “principles” they’d be doing just that. Why is @TeamYouTube taking orders from this violent man? #VoxAdpocalypse pic.twitter.com/IbWDZShjvO
— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) June 5, 2019
Vox went after YouTube’s #1 independent creator @pewdiepie for YEARS.
When they failed, they came after EVERYONE. #VoxAdpocalypse
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) June 5, 2019
If YouTube is going to demonetize Crowder, https://t.co/zawtYNA9PU is going to support him. We’ll buy a Crowder Store t-shirt for 5 random individuals with 500 or more followers that retweet this tweet by midnight 6/05 & 5 randoms that retweet by 6/06. @scrowder #VoxAdpocalypse
— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) June 5, 2019
The year is 2023. All comedians that mock the status quo have migrated to conservative platforms. YouTube is now just ASMR videos, makeup tutorials and a circle jerk of “post comedy” humorless scolds. Angry journavists scour the internet looking for the next offender to cancel.
— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) June 5, 2019
Crowder suggested that Vox’s agenda wasn’t personal. “The goal was to get YouTube to change its ENTIRE monetization design for independent creators,” he said.
It was never really about me. Vox was clear from the beginning that their goal was to get YouTube to change its ENTIRE monetization design for independent creators.#VoxAdpocalypse https://t.co/NRjAl04dNS
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) June 6, 2019
Shopify apparently followed YouTube’s lead and removed Crowder’s tee shirt from its store.
Following complaints from Vox, Shopify just removed Crowder’s “Socialism is for F*gs” shirt. pic.twitter.com/DlmzUpl6Gg
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 5, 2019
In the video below, Crowder and his colleagues discussed the specious reasons YouTube gave for blocking his channel’s ability to make money.
Today’s #VoxAdpocalypse live stream video is UP. We let you know EXACTLY what’s going on with Vox’s war on independent YouTube creators.https://t.co/aEIq1ztl7i
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) June 6, 2019
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