YouTube issues 'strike' against Crowder, demonetizes his channel

Conservative comedian and BlazeTV host Steven Crowder was once again targeted by Big Tech censors for allegedly violating YouTube's and Twitter's content moderation policies. But neither YouTube nor Twitter explained to Crowder how he broke the rules.

On Monday, YouTube informed Crowder's team that a video titled "HUGE: Nevada Voter Mysteries Deepen!" violated its presidential election integrity policy. In the video, which was reported by TheBlaze when it premiered nearly a month ago, Crowder claimed that an unknown person or group altered public records to hide the fact that a former Hillary Clinton aide — who has allegedly been missing for two years — may have voted illegally in Nevada during the 2020 election.

In an email to Crowder, Youtube said the video was removed and a strike was applied to the Steven Crowder channel. Crowder has been suspended from uploading new videos for one week.

Additionally, YouTube informed Crowder that because of repeated violations of its Community Guidelines, Google AdSense program policies, and Advertiser-Friendly Guidelines, the Steven Crowder channel would be suspended from the YouTube Partner Program and his videos would be demonetized.

"During a recent review, our team of policy specialists carefully looked over the videos you've uploaded to your channel StevenCrowder. We found that a significant portion of your channel is not in line with our monetization policies," Crowder's legal counsel Bill Richmond was told via email.

YouTube also cited advertiser pressure as a cause for Crowder's demonetization:

Unfortunately, in recent months the Steven Crowder channel has incurred two violations identified to date of our Community Guidelines and repeated violations of our monetization policies, including those related to misinformation and incendiary and demeaning content. We have also recently received renewed advertiser criticism about content on the Steven Crowder channel. We have a responsibility to ensure that our community is safe for creators, viewers, and advertisers.

YouTube did not explain how Crowder's videos violate their policies or point to specific instances where Crowder violated the Community Guidelines. TheBlaze reached out to Google for an explanation with specifics but did not receive comment before publication.

"I've been warning about this for a long time and now it's here. BigTech, and specifically Youtube, have painted a target on Conservative's [sic] backs for years, with yours truly being target #1," Crowder wrote on Instagram in response to YouTube's actions.

"Today, Google/Youtube just fired a HUGE shot across our bow," he continued. "They are no longer enforcing 'community guidelines,' but creating entirely new ones with the express purpose of removing any and all Conservative voices of dissent."

"For the crime of investigative journalism, we are forbidden from uploading, posting or live-streaming for an entire week on the main channel," Crowder said.

Days earlier, Twitter suspended Crowder seemingly without explanation. This was Crowder's third suspension within one month. In a notification that Crowder's account was locked for violating Twitter's rules, Twitter did not say which tweet violated their policies, leaving the "specifically for" field blank.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheBlaze.