YouTube has pulled a video from conservative commentator Steven Crowder for violating its COVID-19 misinformation policy. A clip from the video where Crowder made racist comments about Black farmers was widely criticized on Tuesday.
YouTube pulls racist Steven Crowder video for violating COVID misinformation policies
It’s not the first action YouTube has taken against Crowder
It’s not the first action YouTube has taken against Crowder
Image: Steven Crowder’s YouTube channel
is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
“This video violates our COVID-19 misinformation policy, which prohibits content claiming that the death rates of COVID-19 are less severe or equally as severe as the common cold or seasonal flu,” YouTube said in a statement to The Verge. “As a result, the video was removed from Steven Crowder’s channel.”
The video was flagged by YouTube’s automated systems when it was uploaded, was immediately blocked from running ads, and was never monetized, YouTube tells The Verge. YouTube has removed other videos that violate the company’s policies from Crowder’s channel in the past.
The company revoked the ability to run ads on his channel in August 2019 after former Vox host Carlos Maza evidenced numerous instances of Crowder using derogatory and homophobic comments when talking about Maza. The instance, and conversations about harassment on YouTube that followed, led to YouTube introducing a new policy specifically designed to curb creator-on-creator harassment. After a year demonetizing Crowder’s channel, YouTube enabled his ability to run ads again.
(Disclosure: Vox is a publication of Vox Media, which also owns The Verge.)
Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.
