YouTube suspensions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

YouTube may suspend accounts, temporarily or permanently, from their social networking service. Suspensions of high-profile individuals from YouTube are unusual and when they occur, often attract attention in the media.

List of notable suspensions[edit]

Individual/account Description Date of suspension Reason for suspension
That Guy with the Glasses Channel run by comedian and internet personality Doug Walker of Nostalgia Critic fame 18 June 2007 Copyright infringement.[1] After launching a That Guy with the Glasses website in 2008, his content returned to YouTube in 2009 as part of a deal between the site and Blip.tv,[2] the website's primary video host.[3]
Wael Abbas Egyptian journalist, blogger, and human rights activist September 2007 Complaints about graphic content, particularly those depicting tortures.[4]
Evalion Canadian internet personality May 17 2016 Hate speech[5]
Uriminzokkiri North Korean state-run website 11 September 2017 Violating YouTube's community guidelines[6]
Toy Freaks Single father of two 22 November 2017 After being highlighted in a Medium article, the top-100 channel, which had over 8 million subscribers at the time,[7] was terminated for violating YouTube's child endangerment policy, which they had recently revised in response to media coverage of supposedly child-friendly videos containing disturbing content on YouTube.[8]
Logan Paul Internet personality, actor, director and musician February 2018 YouTube suspended all advertising on Paul's channels due to his pattern of behavior.[9] The suspension was lifted 18 days later.[10]
Government of Pakistan Official account for the Pakistani government 2 February 2018 Suspended for copyright infringement. Account restored a day later.[11][12]
FamilyOFive Family vlog 18 July 2018 Violating child endangerment guidelines.[13]
The Alex Jones Channel Video channel run by American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for his website InfoWars 6 August 2018 Terminated for violating hate speech and harassment guidelines, following similar bans done by Facebook, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts around this time.[14] His channel was initially just suspended from doing live broadcasts for 90 days, and deleted four of his videos, on July 25 for violating their policies regarding hate speech and graphic content.[15]
Austin Jones Musician February 2019 Terminated after he pleaded guilty to child pornography offenses. They initially refused to.[16][17]
Resistance News Channel created by Alex Jones to circumvent his ban 19 March 2019 Ban evasion.[18]
Fantastic Adventures Comedy channel 20 March 2019 Violating child endangerment guidelines.[19]
Steven Crowder Right-wing comedian and commentator 4 June 2019 Demonetized his channels for having "a pattern of egregious actions that has harmed the broader community" following a dispute between Crowder and Vox producer Carlos Maza over alleged homophobic content. YouTube initially ruled his content was "hurtful" but not in violation of its guidelines.[20]
ThuleanPerspective Channel run by Norwegian far-right activist and black metal musician Varg Vikernes 5 June 2019 Hate speech. Banned hours after YouTube updated its guidelines to ban white supremacist, antisemitic, and misogynistic content.[21][22]
Soph Right-wing comedian and commentator 5 August 2019 Terminated for posting a video that ended with her making death threats and telling followers to cite her in their manifestos, in reference to the mass shootings attributed to 8chan earlier in the year. Her Patreon was also terminated.[23]
210 pro-Mainland China accounts 23 August 2019 Suspended for involvement in "coordinated influence operations" to turn public opinion against the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.[24]
American Identity Movement White nationalist group, since defunct 26 August 2019 Violating hate speech policies.[25]
James Allsup American white nationalist
TRS Radio Video channel for Neo-Nazi website The Right Stuff
VDARE TV Video channel for far-right website VDARE
Red Ice TV Channels run by far-right multimedia outlet Red Ice 17 October 2019 Red Ice TV, which served as the outlet's main channel, was terminated for violating hate speech.[26] Their second channel, which served as a backup, was also terminated.[27]
Red Ice Media 23 October 2019
James Charles, FaZe Rug, FaZe Kay, Leah Ashe, and others Multiple popular YouTubers 5 November 2019 Accidental termination, possibly due to a bug on YouTube's end. The accounts were shortly reinstated.[28]
Owen Benjamin Alt-right comedian 3 December 2019 Terminated for repeated attempts at circumventing the website's terms of service.[29]
America First with Nicholas J Fuentes Channel run by American white nationalist commentator Nick Fuentes 14 February 2020 Violating hate speech policies.[30]
TruNews Video channel for the far-right conspiracy theorist website of the same name 20 February 2020 Violating hate speech policies.[31] Was temporarily suspended in November 2019 after pastor and site founder Rick Wiles accused Jews of being behind former U.S. President Donald Trump's first impeachment.[32]
David Icke Conspiracy theorist, former sports broadcaster and football player 2 May 2020 Promoting misleading information about the COVID-19 pandemic. YouTube a month prior banned all videos that claimed the virus was caused by 5G following a livestream where Icke did so. His Facebook profile was also deleted at the time of the termination.[33][34]
The Iconoclast British far-right activist 19 June 2020 Violating hate speech policies.[35] Account was suspended in 2019, but restored on appeal.[36]
Gavin McInnes Far-right political commentator and founder of the Proud Boys 22 June 2020 Violating hate speech policies.[37]
Two accounts linked to American Renaissance White nationalist and far-right personalities and institutions 29 June 2020 Violating hate speech policies.[38]
David Duke
NPI/Radix
Richard Spencer
Stefan Molyneux
Martin Sellner Austrian far-right activist and leader of Identitäre Bewegung Österreich 13 July 2020 Violating hate speech policies.[39] His account was suspended in 2019, but restored on appeal.[36]
Wiley Rapper 5 August 2020 Banned after antisemitic rant. Banned from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter in July.[40]
LeafyIsHere Commentator 21 August 2020 Violating YouTube's policy on harassment and bullying.[41]
Baked Alaska Alt-right activist 13 October 2020 Unknown; believed to be caused by a video of him harassing a convenience store employee for asking him to wear a mask.[42]
LensCapProductions / MrAnime / MrBryko Anime show reviews 30 September 2020 [43]
Patriots' Soapbox News Network QAnon-linked Channel 15 October 2020 Terminated as part of a site-wide crackdown on channels that promote “conspiracy theories that have been used to justify real-world violence.”[44]
ABS-CBN News and ANC 24/7 News media 3 November 2020 Suspension lifted one day later.[45] It is believed that the channels were hacked to upload a Ripple livestream to promote a bitcoin scam.[46] The issue was resolved several hours later.
One America News Network Far-right American news outlet 24 November 2020 Violating YouTube's COVID-19 misinformation policy; suspended for 1 week and demonetized.[47]
talkRADIO British talk radio station 5 January 2021 Violating YouTube's COVID-19 misinformation policy; suspended for a few hours.[48]
Donald J Trump President of the United States 13 January 2021 Violating YouTube's policy on violence following the January 6 United States Capitol attack.[49]
LifeSiteNews Video channel for the far-right Catholic news site of the same name 10 February 2021 Terminated for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines.[50]
Channels run by the Burmese military 5 March 2021 Terminated in response to violent crackdown of protestors that occurred during the 2021 Myanmar protests.[51]
Steven Crowder Right-wing comedian and commentator 30 March 2021 Suspended for a week for disputing the 2020 United States presidential election results in Nevada. His main channel is also permanently removed from the YouTube Partner Program.[52]
Sebastian Gorka Former Trump White House senior adviser, radio host 12 April 2021 Permanent ban for Violating YouTube's presidential election integrity policy [53]
Ron Johnson U.S. Senator from Wisconsin 11 June 2021 Suspended for a week for misinformation via promoting Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin as alternate COVID-19 treatments.[54]
RWW Blog Video channel for monitoring site Right Wing Watch 29 June 2021 Suspended for a day after YouTube accidentally suspended the channel for allegedly violating community guidelines. Right Wing Watch appealed to the ban which was rejected by YouTube. The channel was reinstated hours later after review.[55]
Marcelito Pomoy Filipino singer July 29, 2021 Suspended for violating YouTube's community guidelines following his channel getting hacked to display an Algorand bitcoin livestream.[56]
Sky News Australia Australian right-wing news channel July 29, 2021 Suspended for a week after uploading videos containing misleading information regarding COVID-19. The suspension also bars the YouTube channel from running its livestreams. The videos that were uploaded were removed from their YouTube channel.[57][58][59]
Rand Paul U.S. Senator from Kentucky 11 August 2021 Suspended for a week for posting a video claiming that face masks are ineffective, in violating guidelines on COVID-19 misinformation.[60]
Professor Waffle Channel run by Jake Davidson, perpetrator of the 2021 Plymouth shooting 13 August 2021 Removed in the aftermath of the shooting for "inciting violence".[61]
R. Kelly Singer 5 October 2021 R. Kelly's YouTube channel was terminated following his conviction for sex trafficking.[62]
Jair Bolsonaro President of Brazil 26 October 2021 Suspended for a week for violating YouTube's COVID-19 misinformation policy after saying that COVID-19 vaccine causes AIDS.[63]
Dan Bongino Talk show host, former United States Secret Service agent 14 January 2022 Suspended for violating YouTube's COVID-19 misinformation policy after claiming masks are "useless" in preventing the spread of the disease. [64]
Duma TV Russian Parliament Channel of State Duma April 8, 2022 Terminated for violating YouTube's Terms of Service in response to 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Vyacheslav Volodin, the Duma speaker, said YouTube's move was further evidence of Washington's violation of rights and freedoms.[65]
Julien Bam German filmmaker April 18, 2022 Temporarily suspended after being compromised by spammers. Reinstated shortly after.[66]
Drachenlord [de] German streamer August 9 or 10, 2022[67] Permanently suspended for uploading to a new channel while his existing channel was under a temporary upload restriction.[citation needed]
Uncle Slava, video blogger[68] Donbas political activist, Omegle/Chatroulette streamer August 24, 2023 Fitness and criminal justice blogger, later focussing on Ukrainian issues following the 2013 Euromaidan protests including the Nazi relations of the Azov Brigade, far-right and racial problems and potential resolutions to the war in Donbas. Suspended due to his active position in favor of speaking with both Ukrainian and Donbas people using online chat services and translating these discussions.[69]
Ruby Franke Family vlogger (8 Passengers), parental advice company (ConneXions) August 31, 2023 Channels 8 Passengers and ConneXions terminated following Franke and Hildebrandt's arrest for six charges of aggravated child abuse.[70] Franke openly admitted in her content to withholding food and bedding from her children as form of punishment, and online petitions to get child protective services involved had existed since 2020.[71]
Jodi Hildebrandt

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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  70. ^ Press-Reynolds, Kieran (Sep 1, 2023). "YouTube removed Ruby Franke's ConneXions channel and says she can't make accounts anymore". Insider.com. Retrieved Sep 1, 2023.
  71. ^ Olson, Emily (September 1, 2023). "Who is Ruby Franke? What to know about the mommy vlogger accused of child abuse". NPR. Retrieved September 3, 2023.