YouTube demonetizes Steven Crowder's account after homophobic remarks

YouTube has suspended monetization on conservative commentator and comedian Steven Crowder's account after previously deciding his videos are not in violation of the platform's policies.

Crowder faced criticism after Vox's Carlos Maza posted a compilation of Crowder in multiple videos attacking Maza by mocking his sexuality and ethnicity. Maza questioned why Crowder's comments do not violate YouTube's policies, also saying he has been subjected to online harassment as a result. YouTube in response on Tuesday said that Crowder's videos "don't violate our policies" and that "opinions can be deeply offensive, but if they don’t violate our policies, they’ll remain on our site."

On Wednesday, however, YouTube announced it would be suspending monetization on Crowder's account. "We came to this decision because a pattern of egregious actions has harmed the broader community and is against our YouTube Partner Program policies," YouTube said. YouTube linked to a 2018 blog post outlining the company's policy for when users harm the "reputation of the broader creator community among advertisers."

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Maza criticized YouTube on Wednesday, saying this move to demonetize Crowder is not enough because his "revenue stream isn't from YouTube ads" but from selling merchandise, including a T-shirt that has a gay slur on it. "The ad revenue isn't the problem," he said. "It's the platform."

Crowder responded to YouTube's decision by calling this is the beginning of the "next adpocalypse," a term referring to YouTube creators in 2017 losing advertising revenue. "The ability for one to make a living online ... is about to change drastically," he said while promising a new video discussing the situation.

This announcement from YouTube came after the company previously rolled out new policies to crack down on hateful content, which is expected to result in the removal of thousands of videos.