Candace Owens Takes Financial Hit Over Transphobic YouTube Videos

Candace Owens, one of the more hateful right-wing influencers famous for saying shocking things, has learned that transphobic hate speech isn’t free after YouTube demonetized content on her account.

In response to violations of the company’s monetization policy for hateful or derogatory content, which may include misgendering or deadnaming, the company demonetized several videos from the conservative pundit’s channel.

There is no public policy on misgendering within the company, although one of the company’s representatives told NBC News in a statement that deliberate misgendering will potentially violate the company’s monetization policy, the news network reports.

Earlier this week, Owens said YouTube provided her with the option to delete all videos she’s ever made using pronouns that transgender people do not prefer. As Owens discussed in an episode on her channel titled ‘I Have An Announcement To Make,’ YouTube considered videos in which she misgendered individuals as “hateful conduct.”

Michael Aciman, a Google spokesperson, told NBC News that YouTube did not take down Owens’ videos but blocked ads on “several videos on Candace Owen’s channel for violating our monetization policies, including those against hateful and derogatory content.”

According to YouTube’s guidelines on hateful and derogatory content, advertisements may be prohibited on videos intended to promote discrimination, disparage, or humiliate individual or group members. This includes, as Aciman stressed, the demonization of members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Additionally, Aciman said that enforcement against videos could include punishment for those that “may include deliberate deadnaming or misgendering of transgender individuals.”

In recent months, conservatives have feigned outrage claiming that social media companies were trying to silence their voices from expressing their opinions on issues.

Self-described free speech absolutist Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Twitter, recently dismantled policies on the short messaging platform that protected transgender people from harassment.