YouTube's week from hell: How the debate over free speech online exploded after a conservative star with millions of subscribers was accused of homophobic harassment

Samantha Lee/Business Insider YouTube had one of its roughest weeks in recent memory after the Vox journalist Carlos Maza accused the platform of letting the conservative star Steven Crowder continually harass him with homophobic remarks in his videos.

The accusations sparked an investigation, which eventually found that Crowder had not violated any YouTube policies.

After a large amount of public backlash, YouTube demonetized Crowder's channel, sparking even more complaints from both sides of the aisle.

The conflict is only the latest in the emerging battle over how to control speech online.

Read more stories like this on Business Insider. Before this week, Carlos Maza, also known as @gaywonk on Twitter, was a minor celebrity among those interested in media and politics. Only a few followers shy of 100,000 on the microblogging platform, Maza carved a space out for himself on the progressive and wonky internet through his video essays on Vox, previously hosted on the progressive media watchdog site Media Matters for America, that provide an ounce of opinion and graphics for each ounce of reporting and facts. But Maza's profile is quickly rising after he accused Google's YouTube at the end of last month of failing to enforce its harassment policies on videos made by the conservative media star Steven Crowder, who has 3.8 million subscribers on YouTube. What followed Maza's tweetstorm calling out YouTube was just the latest conflict in the emerging war over free speech, hate speech, and content moderation on the largest platforms on the internet.

Maza said Crowder's comments violated YouTube's harassment policy, sparking an investigation from the platform. "Lispy queer" and "lispy angry sprite" were just a few of the characterizations Crowder used to describe Maza, shown in a compilation video Maza posted to Twitter that now has over 3 million views. Crowder, who hosts a roundtable discussion and sketch show with a conservative bent, has repeatedly featured segments ripping on videos made by Maza, in which he contradicts their ideas while also jabbing at Maza's sexual and ethnic identity. In his original tweetstorm, Maza said the personal attacks led to doxxing and harassment from Crowder's supporters and were in violation of YouTube's policy on harassment and bullying. Specifically, Maza pointed to the following types of content that YouTube discourages in its harassment policy: Content that is deliberately posted in order to humiliate someone Content that makes hurtful and negative personal comments/videos about another person Content that incites others to harass or threaten individuals on or off YouTube



Crowder responded by claiming that Maza's efforts to get his videos removed were part of a larger campaign to silence independent conservative creators. Screenshot / YouTube In a response, Crowder acknowledged his use of the language against Maza, insisting that it was comedic and used only when arguing against Maza's ideas and saying he had never promoted doxxing or targeted harassment and condemned it. Crowder went on to claim that Maza's efforts to flag his videos were part of a larger campaign from big media companies to silence conservative creators, noting a $200 million investment from NBC Universal in Vox Media in 2015, calling the situation comparable to "David versus Goliath." "This is a war we will fight to the absolute bitter end," Crowder said. Maza, anticipating the argument, tweeted earlier that his concern was YouTube: "I don't give a flying f--- if conservatives on YouTube disagree with me. But by refusing to enforce its anti-harassment policy, YouTube is helping incredibly powerful cyberbullies organize and target people they disagree with."

High-profile figures on both sides of the aisle have chimed in on the case. Irene Jiang / Business Insider The dispute among Maza, YouTube, and Crowder quickly gained attention, becoming political and personal. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York retweeted Maza, adding "Bigotry + disinformation campaigns are often the most 'engaging' (& rewarded) due to their inflammatory nature." The Olympic bronze medalist Adam Rippon, who is gay, retweeted Maza saying "people still get constantly harassed online just for being LGBTQ+." Maza posted that he had received ramped-up negative attention, saying he was receiving a flood of death threats and harassment and highlighting that a "Carlos Maza is a f-g" shirt had gone on sale online, an imitation of a "socialism is for f-gs" shirt that Crowder sold. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas brought attention to the debate, commenting: "This is ridiculous. YouTube is not the Star Chamber - stop playing God & silencing those voices you disagree with. This will not end well." Maza condemned Cruz for supporting Crowder, writing, "A U.S. senator is coming to the defense of someone who spent two years calling me a 'lispy queer,'" to which Cruz responded: "Sigh. This individual claims to be a 'journalist.' Then he throws a fit & demands that YouTube CENSOR views he doesn't like. Here's a crazy idea: if you don't like what @scrowder says, ARGUE AGAINST HIM." YouTube also faced criticism from Glenn Greenwald, a prominent gay journalist, in an appearance on Tucker Carlson's Fox News program, where he frequently provides perspectives that flummox progressives. "YouTube caved in," Greenwald said, defending Crowder. "Not in defense of the marginalized person, but in defense of the powerful one, the one who despite being gay and Latino works for a major media conglomerate."

YouTube announced that Crowder's videos had not violated its policies. YouTube; Samantha Lee/Business Insider On June 4, five days after Maza's original tweets on the matter, YouTube responded via Twitter, writing: "Our teams spent the last few days conducting an in-depth review of the videos flagged to us, and while we found language that was clearly hurtful, the videos as posted don't violate our policies. We've included more info below to explain this decision. As an open platform, it's crucial for us to allow everyone-from creators to journalists to late-night TV hosts-to express their opinions w/in the scope of our policies. Opinions can be deeply offensive, but if they don't violate our policies, they'll remain on our site. Even if a video remains on our site, it doesn't mean we endorse/support that viewpoint. There are other aspects of the channel that we're still evaluating-we'll be in touch with any further updates." In a statement to Gizmodo, YouTube elaborated upon its decision, writing: "In videos flagged to YouTube, Crowder has not instructed his viewers to harass Maza on YouTube or any other platform and the main point of these videos was not to harass or threaten, but rather to respond to the opinion." Read more: YouTube is refusing to punish a star with millions of fans after he hurled homophobic slurs at a journalist

Following the decision, YouTube received a torrent of criticism. Josh Edelson/Bloomberg via Getty Images Vox's publisher, Melissa Bell, criticized the decision in a statement to The Verge, saying, "By refusing to take a stand on hate speech, they allow the worst of their communities to hide behind cries of 'free speech' and 'fake news' all while increasingly targeting people with the most offensive and odious harassment." Ellen Pao, the former Reddit executive and victim of online harassment, wrote: "Wrong decision. Platforms don't operate in silos; technology has made our world interconnected. Cross-platform harassment is real. YouTube should look at the impact of the behavior across all platforms--and from followers as well. The mental anguish is real and can't be ignored." Numerous journalists also shared dismay over the decision.

Notably, Google began receiving criticism from inside the company. Reuters The decision became a flashpoint for an increasingly vocal faction of activists who are employed by Google. A group called Googlers Against Hate began a social-media campaign targeting the decision, using the hashtag #NoPrideInYT and encouraging employees to speak out. Employees who spoke with media outlets like Business Insider and The Verge expressed dismay. "It's hard to put my shoes on every day and go to work when I don't think the company I work for supports my identity," a Google engineer told Business Insider. Another Google employee reportedly told The Verge: "Internal outreach to executives has not been effective in years. They ignore us completely unless there is extreme unrest. We can't trust them anymore to listen in good faith." Read more: Google employees are speaking out using the hashtag 'NoPrideInYT' after YouTube was slow to punish a right-wing creator for using homophobic slurs

Google is now facing questions from LGBT organizations who already have, or are considering, cutting ties, including San Francisco Pride. Melia Robinson/Business Insider In response to YouTube's decision, multiple LGBT groups have begun assessing their work with Google. The nonprofit Pride Foundation of Maryland said it would remove its content from YouTube in response to the issue and called for other groups to do so as well. On Wednesday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, a former Google employee named Tyler Breisacher petitioned the San Francisco Pride board in a meeting to keep Google from marching in the San Francisco Pride parade. Following Breisacher's comments, San Francisco Pride reportedly contacted Google with concerns over the Crowder-Maza incident.

A day after making its initial decision, YouTube appeared to respond to the criticism by announcing that it had demonetized Crowder's videos. Backlash from all sides seemed to intensify. YouTube / StevenCrowder Following its initial announcement, YouTube published an update saying it had demonetized Crowder's videos - crippling his ability to make money from ads on his YouTube content - based on "a pattern of egregious actions" that the company said "harmed the broader community." Later, YouTube clarified that Crowder could have his monetization reinstated if he removed links to his merchandise store that sold a "Socialism is for F*gs" shirt and addressed certain "harmful" content on his channel. The decision left both Crowder and Maza upset. Maza says that by simply demonetizing Crowder, who claims to have previously been mostly demonetized anyways, YouTube is simply encouraging him to lean harder into his controversial statements because he YouTube has shown it won't delete his videos. Crowder also appeared to be upset by the decision. In a video titled "WE'RE DEMONETIZED!" he said YouTube had "managed to come up with a solution that pisses everybody off," expressing outrage that the company had demonetized "the biggest conservative channel in the history of YouTube" because "he didn't violate any guidelines, but we gotta' give the piranhas something." He went on to say the employee who came up with the solution was "probably not fired because he's probably gay."

The same day, YouTube announced that it would begin removing certain extremist, bigoted content including videos promoting neo-Nazism. Some saw strategic timing in the move. Reuters In an announcement that came the same day as Crowder's demonetization, YouTube said it would begin removing "videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation, or exclusion," along with videos denying the occurrence of mass tragedies. According to The New York Times, this will affect thousands of videos and channels promoting neo-Nazism, white supremacy, and other extreme ideologies. For many critics, the announcement came off as a small token that was transparently attempting to deflect criticism from the company. Gizmodo's Bryan Menegus called it a "vague mea culpa" and the "bare minimum" for addressing YouTube's hate problem. Others noted that Google and YouTube had made similar promises before. Shortly after the announcement, Ford Fischer, a journalist who documents rallies and protests, tweeted that his account had been demonetized, noting that YouTube had cited a video he uploaded of protesters confronting a Holocaust denier. The media watchdog Right Wing Watch noted that one of its videos had been taken down because of a clip it used from a conservative claiming that YouTube was controlled by "the synagogue of Satan." The original clip from the host Rick Wiles was reportedly not taken down. Others who were questionably caught up in the purge included a history teacher whose channel used archival footage of the Nazis and a Southern Poverty Law Center video of an interview with a Holocaust denier.

Since Maza posted his tweets, Crowder has gained nearly 90,000 subscribers. YouTube Though Crowder's channel has been demonetized, his following has only grown since the controversy began. Since Maza originally posted his tweets, Crowder has gained nearly 90,000 subscribers, according to SocialBlade. Crowder is now encouraging viewers to support him through his merchandise and personal website.