YouTube Bans Insults Based on Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation—But Is Met With Skepticism

Topline: YouTube tightened its harassment policy on Wednesday to bar “veiled or implied threats” and malicious insults based on someone’s race, gender or sexual orientation—but the move was met with skepticism from prominent creators who doubt the company’s ability to enforce the new rules.

• The updated harassment policy now bans “veiled or implied threats,” not just explicit ones as the previous guidelines did, said Matt Halprin, YouTube’s vice president and global head of trust and safety, in a blog post. 
• The rules also ban content “simulating violence toward an individual or language suggesting physical violence may occur.”
• Creators will not be allowed to make videos that “maliciously insults someone based on protected attributes such as their race, gender expression, or sexual orientation.”
• YouTube says it will prevent any creator from earning money if they “repeatedly brush up against our harassment policy.” If the behavior continues, the company said it will take stronger action, such as issuing strikes against the account or removing it altogether.
• YouTube said it met with online bullying organizations, free speech proponents and policy organizations from all sides of the political spectrum to inform the changes.

Key background: The changes come six months after YouTube faced a firestorm of criticism for how it handled Steven Crowder, a creator who for months targeted Vox journalist Carlos Maza with insults such as “Mr. lispy queer from Vox,” “angry little queer” and “gay Mexican.” YouTube decided that Crowder did not violate its policies against harassment and hate speech, but it did demonetize his channel. 

At the same time, YouTube has made efforts to combat videos promoting white supremacy and other egregious examples of hate speech, but media reports have found that the company has been inconsistent. Forbes reported in June that videos meant to educate viewers about the Holocaust were swept up in stricter hate speech policies. In August, a group of creators filed a lawsuit against the company for discriminating against LGBTQ creators. And YouTube has been accused of treating high-profile creators more leniently.  

Chief critics: Both progressive and right-wing creators were skeptical of YouTube’s ability to police its own platform. Maza tweeted that “these policies only work if YouTube is willing to take down its most popular rule-breakers. And there's no reason, so far, to believe that it is.”

“‘Malicious insults’ are only a small part of the problem on YouTube. The bigger problem is hateful content—stuff that targets entire groups. Ben Shapiro smearing Muslims as terrorists. Lauren Southern railing against ‘mass migration.’ This is hate speech with a smile,” he added.

Meanwhile, Shapiro and other conservative pundits railed against the update as an example of overreach. 

“I look forward to their mind-reading machine determining whether Dave Chapelle is malicious or not,” Shapiro tweeted.