Candace Owens has been suspended from YouTube for violating the platform’s hate speech policy, specifically promoting hatred toward the LGBTQ community.
It’s her third suspension, so she may be pulled off the site permanently.
On the Candace Owens Podcast channel Monday, 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’s used pronouns not preferred by trans individuals. Videos in which Owens misgendered individuals were considered “hateful conduct” by YouTube, according to Owens in a segment in the episode titled ‘I Have An Announcement To Make.’
Owens’ YouTube censorship claims come amid the ongoing cultural debate on free speech and anti-trans content published by conservative media online.
Knowles explained that Owens had been suspended from the platform and the entire network’s YouTube channel could be in jeopardy if she appeared on camera.
They will be moving to live stream to the paywalled Daily Wire+ website instead, Knowles claiming: ‘YouTube, you see, hates us.’
Prohibiting her from posting or appearing on any of the Daily Wire’s YouTube channels.’
Knowles went on to say that this ‘should not come as a shock at this point’ adding ‘every one of us here at The Daily Wire has been in YouTube jail for one reason or another.’
Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing stated in June that Owens and Knowles had both received two strikes against their accounts for violating YouTube’s policies on hate speech, Media Matters reported.
Three strikes against a YouTube account within 90-days can lead to its termination.
A YouTube spokesperson told the outlet: ‘We issued a strike to the Candace Owens Podcast channel for violating our hate speech policy, which prohibits content promoting hatred against protected individuals or groups, including the LGBTQ+ community.’
The video ‘Carlee Russell The Female Jussie Smollet’ has reportedly been removed from Owens’ channel. While YouTube said it did not remove Owens’ videos, Michael Aciman, a Google spokesperson, said that the company blocked ads on “several videos on Candace Owen’s channel for violating our monetization policies, including those against hateful and derogatory content.”
Under its guidelines on hateful and derogatory content, YouTube may prohibit advertisements from running on a video that “promotes discrimination, disparages, or humiliates an individual or group of people.” Aciman noted this includes disparagement of the LGBTQ community.
Knowles responded to his own suspension by removing the most extreme LGBTQ rhetoric from his show and told his audience they’d be able to find it on the Daily Wire website. Owens continued however.
Previous content presented by Owens included accusations that anyone who shopped at Target was ‘gay’ and a ‘pervert’ and claimed ‘transgenderism is a cancer and we should fight it.’
YouTube’s hate speech policy states content that ‘repeatedly targets, insults, and abuses a group based on protected group status across multiple uploads’ may lead to penalties.
