YouTube finally takes action against Candace Owens’ ‘hateful’ anti-trans videos
YouTube has allegedly taken action against right-wing talkshow host Candace Owens’ content, asking her to delete anti-trans videos or have them demonetised.
The video-sharing platform reportedly said it demonetised several videos on the 34-year-old political commentator’s channel for violating its policies on hateful content, which included instances of misgendering and deadnaming.
Owens has previously been criticised for claiming YouTube star JoJo Siwa is “lying” about being gay, falsely blaming a trans woman for a Texas school shooting, and praising Donald Trump as a “feminist icon” due to his opposition to trans rights.
As well as having her own podcast, Owens also hosts a show on conservative news site The Daily Wire, which came under fire in March after another host, Michael Knowles, called for “transgenderism” to be completely eradicated from public life.
On the Candace Owens Podcast channel on Monday (5 June), Owens said YouTube gave her “an option to delete every video that I’ve ever done pertaining to gender in which I have accurately gendered someone”, referring to instances in which she has misgendered trans people.
Instead, YouTube reportedly removed adverts from the videos, NBC News reported.
YouTube does not explicitly list misgendering as against its hate speech policies. However, in a statement to NBC News, YouTube said that deliberately misgendering or deadnaming trans people could be a potential violation of its monetisation policy on hateful content.
A Google spokesperson told the outlet that it did not remove Owens’ videos, but demonetised several of them “for violating our monetization policies, including those against hateful and derogatory content”.
“All creators must follow our community guidelines, which prohibit content promoting hatred against protected groups, including the LGBTQ+ community,” the statement added.
Owens said in the video on Monday that some of her videos are missing since YouTube announced it would be demonetising some of her content. She did not specify which videos were allegedly removed.
She added that after YouTube demonetised some of her content, she would “re-examine my viewpoints on how I talk about this topic and maybe abide by YouTube’s policy fully in a way that allows me to rest my head on the pillow”.
PinkNews has contacted YouTube for further comment.