Google-owned video platform YouTube has responded to calls to ban conservative commentator Steven Crowder, stating that the talk show host has not violated the site’s rules and will not be banned from the platform. After this article was originally published, YouTube reversed itself by demonetizing Crowder’s account, preventing him from earning ad revenue with his videos. The Google subsidiary blamed what it calls a “pattern of egregious behavior.”
Vox writer and video host Carlos Maza recently called for conservative commentator Steven Crowder to be removed from YouTube, claiming that Crowder repeatedly directed homophobic slurs at him. Maza took to Twitter to call Crowder out, claiming that despite being used to “online harassment,” Crowder had been “bothering him.”
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
Crowder published a full video response to Maza on his channel:
Crowder defended himself stating that his comments were jokes and “harmless ribbing” in a video he released earlier this week. However, critics still called for Crowder to be banned from the platform. YouTube was quiet about the situation for some time but has finally responded, stating that although Crowder’s language was “hurtful,” it did not violate the site’s policies. Team YouTube wrote on Twitter: