“Last year, for instance, there was a wave of anti-LGBT ads during Pride month,” wrote Amp, “while the algorithm was actively censoring videos that featured LGBT terms like ‘trans.’”Īt the time, YouTube confirmed that their technology was responsible for targeting such content, telling The Verge, “We use machine learning to evaluate content against our advertiser guidelines. The company also released an hour-long documentary about Pride. YouTube has adopted a rainbow logo for the month, even as they provide guidance for using their platform to engage in homophobic harassment. It’s particularly galling given the season: This month marks fifty years since the Stonewall Riots, which galvanized the modern queer liberation movement. It sucks to have to rely on a platform that doesn’t value you.” “They have a monopoly,” said Lindsay Amer, creator of Queer Kid Stuff. Maybe that’s because YouTube has hijacked the market for online video, leaving no viable alternatives. Only so far as they can make money from it.” “YouTube doesn't truly have a bone in the fight against anti-LGBT discrimination. “Capitalism requires exploitation and LGBT creators are actively exploited by YouTube,” wrote Kat Blaque. What’s more: Despite blocking homophobic ads from appearing on my channel, viewers inform me that such ads continue to run.Īt this point, many creators are simply resigned to being let down by the company. This is a near-constant battle I experience with about half of the videos I upload. Without notifying me, YouTube silently removed monetization from the video, declaring it unsuitable for advertisers when I noticed and appealed a few days later, monetization was mysteriously restored. Just last week, I posted a video discussing a 1974 episode of the sitcom Maude that featured one of the first gay characters on American television. On my own YouTube channel, I produce a series called Culture Cruise, where I dissect queer episodes of television. Like many queer creators who use YouTube to reach their audience, Amp says that Watt’s the Safeword constantly sees videos age-restricted, disqualified from monetization, and thumbnails removed for unknown reasons. I personally feel gross using a platform that is so hypocritical.” “But the way in which the guidelines don't get applied to those who harass LGBT creators is a new low. “Anti-LGBT ads, restricted mode, demonetization, age restricting and shadowbanning of LGBT content have always been a problem,” wrote Amp, one of the co-hosts of the sex education channel Watt’s the Safeword. But instead of committing to a ban on abusive behavior, Dale instead provided guidance for users wishing to engage in harassment.Īccording to Dale, YouTube will continue to allow “racial, homophobic, or sexist epithets” as long as they are not “the primary purpose of the video.” One, anonymously attributed to “The YouTube Team,” claimed that the company would generally prohibit “videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination.”Īnother statement, attributed to YouTube’s head of communications Chris Dale, directly referenced the current controversy. The problem was that YouTube allowed a user to engage in targeted harassment for years in the first place.įinally, the company issued two lengthier statements. But monetization was never the full issue because YouTube shares so little ad revenue with creators, the bulk of a creator’s income generally comes from merchandise or crowdfunding on other sites. One unsigned tweet expressed that YouTube did not consider Crowder’s “lispy fag” videos to be harassment another said that the channel would be demonetized due to links to t-shirts for sale bearing an anti-gay slur, and another that further unknown changes would be necessary to resume the channel's monetization. Within a day or two, the conversation had metastasized to the point that it had attracted more of the very same right-wing harassment that had been frustrating Maza for years.Īfter several days of silence and mounting negative press, the company issued a handful of contradictory follow-up Tweets. Within days, Maza’s thread went viral, with thousands of retweets and widespread headlines about YouTube’s failure to act against Crowder’s abuse.
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