YouTube Demonetizes Anti-LGBT Channel (For Now)

The Daily Beast reports:

YouTube unleashed massive confusion and satisfied apparently no one with its handling of Steven Crowder’s homophobic campaign against a gay journalist on Wednesday.

The company will “demonetize” Crowder, a far-right performer, for harassing Vox reporter Carlos Maza. The announcement was a partial reversal from Tuesday, when YouTube said it would not take action against Crowder.

After a whiplash-inducing series of tweets, YouTube went from declining to act against Crowder, to demonetizing him, to appearing to base its decision on homophobic t-shirts Crowder sells, before finally saying his entire channel is a problem.

The Verge reports:



The restriction isn’t permanent, though: YouTube said Crowder’s monetization could be restored if he “addresses all of the issues with his channel,” according to a recent tweet.

That includes removing links to a store where he sells shirts that include slogans like “Socialism Is For Fags.” Maza previously criticized YouTube’s decision to just demonetize Crowder’s channel, arguing that demonetization is insufficient and “basically all political content gets ‘demonetized.’”

YouTube’s support team said the company “came to this decision because a pattern of egregious actions has harmed the broader community and is against our YouTube Partner Program policies” after further investigation of Crowder’s channel.