YouTube announced yesterday that it had decided not to ban Steven Crowder’s account from their platform after VOX employee Carlos Manza targeted Crowder. They have, however, decided to suspend Crowder’s revenue earning ability on his channel:
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
Crowder said he just spoke to YouTube and confirmed this:
Just spoke with YouTube. Confirmed, the second Adpocalypse IS here and they’re coming for you. More details to follow. Stay tuned.
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) June 5, 2019
I honestly don’t know how much money is made from YouTube putting ads on videos, but Crowder gets a lot of views on a regular basis so my gut tells me that it is significant.
Here is YouTube’s rationale for not banning Crowder completely:
(1/4) Thanks again for taking the time to share all of this information with us. We take allegations of harassment very seriously–we know this is important and impacts a lot of people.
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) June 4, 2019
(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
(3/4) As an open platform, it’s crucial for us to allow everyone–from creators to journalists to late-night TV hosts–to express their opinions w/in the scope of our policies. Opinions can be deeply offensive, but if they don’t violate our policies, they’ll remain on our site.
— 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
You know it’d be one thing for YouTube to stop Crowder from running ads on his videos if he were calling for violence. Or even calling for hate. But he’s not. He’s just mocking Manza for being a crappy gay journalist:
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
Next thing you know Crowder’s videos wills top coming up in the YouTube search results…
UPDATE:
Crowder just tweeted this and it doesn’t sound good…
A message about YouTube and the #VoxAdpocalypse pic.twitter.com/B5RL5O1bvy
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) June 5, 2019
We have details in incoming video, but YouTube and Vox have launched an all out WAR on ALL independent creators. Thousands of channels under review!
PLEASE TWEET us if you’ve been demonetized under the new #VoxAdpocalypse guidelines! Will be discussing in tonight’s show.
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) June 5, 2019
UPDATE 2:
If @YouTube is now going to police insulting speech — not violent speech, not incitement, not actual fake news — because a virulently censorious, radical activist masquerading as a journalist complains about being insulted, they’re a joke.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 5, 2019