Video-sharing site YouTube has rewarded far-right extremist and social media personality Matt Walsh for posting anti-LGBTQ+ videos on its platform, according to the media watchdog Media Matters for America.
As of April 24, the conservative commentator claimed the site had taken away $100,000 in monthly advertising revenue from him. Afterward, he explained that he would be able to get paid again by “merely respecting preferred pronouns and refraining from offering any meaningful critiques of gender ideology.”
While refusing to refrain from disrespectful behavior, he continued producing videos misgendering Lia Thomas and TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Besides claiming Bud Light, Disney, and Target “groom” children, he also claims they make kids trans and that LGBTQ+ communities sacrifice children.
In the wake of his suspension from advertiser revenue, Walsh stopped posting his show to YouTube, instead publishing it on the Daily Wire’s website and X, formerly known as Twitter.
Despite YouTube’s disciplinary ruling, Walsh continued to attack Dylan Mulvaney and Bud Light, with a May 5 video mocking the brand’s poor sales, in which he declared, “It is going to make brands in the future think long and hard about promoting transgenderism.”
According to Media Matters, his revenue streams have been restored due to YouTube backing down.
Walsh could make nearly $1.4 million a year on YouTube, according to estimates from a firm that monitors YouTube analytics, the Social Blade.
YouTube has yet to comment on its decision.
A YouTube spokesperson did confirm the first demonetization to Media Matters in a statement.
“We suspended monetization on Matt Walsh’s channel due to repeated violations of our YouTube Partner Program policies, which include our Advertiser-Friendly Guidelines,” the spokesperson wrote at the time. “These policies apply equally to all creators, regardless of political viewpoint, and channels that repeatedly violate these policies are demonetized.”
Walsh’s behavior seems to violate these policies no longer if he’s been reinstated to make money off his content, but what has changed remains unclear.
The site notes that the shooter who killed Laura Ann Carleton in California last month had shared Walsh's call to boycott Target. He'd also pinned a burning Pride flag to his feed on X.
In response to the report by Media Matters, Matt Walsh took to X to write "lol."