YouTube Bans Harassment Based on Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation

By N. Jamiyla Chisholm Dec 12, 2019

Back in September 3, YouTube announced that it removed more than 100,000 individual videos, 17,000 channels and over 500 million comments that promoted hate in the second quarter of the year. According to a blog post published Wednesday (December 11), the video site is now going a step further by prohibiting harassment that shows up as “veiled or implied threats,” “content simulating violence toward an individual or language suggesting physical violence” or “content that maliciously insults someone based on protected attributes such as their race, gender expression or sexual orientation.” The policy applies to everyone, from individuals to corporations to politicians.

“Beyond threatening someone, there is also demeaning language that goes too far,” the post reads. “To establish a consistent criteria for what type of content is not allowed on YouTube, we’re building upon the framework we use for our hate speech policy.” Repeat offenders of YouTube’s harassment policy will be “suspended” from the site’s revenue generation program.