YouTube has determined that uncensored footage of male genitalia does not violate its terms of service, but “misgendering” does.
On July 2, a video by “gay sex educator” Kevin Leonardo, “Removing BUTT HAIRS Using NAIR Cream – A Visual Guide!” was brought to the attention of the TeamYouTube Twitter account. During the video, Leonardo exposes his testicles and anus while demonstrating how to use the aforementioned products.
sorry to hear this! have you already reported this content? if not, the first step is to do that here: https://t.co/XBYch5Glr1 thank you!
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) July 2, 2023
The video was posted on June 25 and subsequently went viral as a result of widespread disgust and backlash on Twitter — it has 14 million views, nearly five times as many as Leonardo’s next most popular video, and according to reporting by The Publica, it has been disliked more than 167,000 times.
Two days later, Team YouTube responded to the user who brought the video to their attention, and said that in reviewing the video, they did not believe it violated their community guidelines, although they did age restrict it so that only adults could see it.
“Posting your genitalia on YouTube is okay but misgendering someone isn’t?” the user asked.
while we understand your frustration, it's important for us to maintain a balance between free speech and protecting our community, so content that doesn't violate our policies will remain up. thanks for understanding
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) July 5, 2023
“While we understand your frustration,” YouTube responded, “it’s important for us to maintain a balance between free speech and protecting our community.”
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That concern for free speech only extends so far. Within 24 hours, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson was informed that one of his podcasts did violate YouTube’s terms of service policy, and would not be allowed on the site.
A conversation between Dr. Peterson and women’s rights advocate Helen Joyce was taken off the platform last month, and after a manual review, the company determined that it would stay down because it violated YouTube’s “hate speech policy.”
YouTube @YouTube justifies its utterly inexcusable pernicious invisible self-righteous and counterproductive censorship…
Hey
Peasants
Your woke corporate overlords think you're too stupid to separate wheat from chaff yourselves pic.twitter.com/KKN0tgizt7— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) July 5, 2023
“We know this is probably disappointing news,” YouTube’s community guidelines team said, “but it’s our job to make sure that YouTube is a safe place for all.”
During the conversation, Peterson and Joyce discussed the effects of gender ideology on Western civilization and the “dangers of a quickly growing transhumanist ideology.” A 2022 study found that the number of trans-identifying teenagers had doubled since 2017 from 0.7% to 1.4% — trans-identifying individuals have consistently been found to have elevated suicide rates and thousands of minors in the United States have been prescribed cross sex hormones to treat their gender dysphoria, which can cause sterility and other irreversible physical changes.
A conversation between Dr. Peterson and Democratic President candidate Robert F. Kennedy was also removed last month for allegedly spreading “vaccine misinformation” — Kennedy has been highly skeptical of the efficacy of the COVID vaccines and has made his opposition to vaccine mandates and COVID-era policies a major part of his campaign.
Other Daily Wire podcasts have also been restricted on the popular video sharing platform. “The Matt Walsh Show” was demonetized on YouTube in April due to Walsh’s coverage of TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney — among his myriad crimes, Walsh referred to Mulvaney with biologically accurate pronouns.
“Over the last few months [The Daily Wire] has received ~200 violations from [YouTube] across our accounts for [Matt Walsh], [Ben Shapiro], [Candace Owens], [Michael J. Knowles], [Jordan B. Peterson], [Andrew Klavan] and [Brett Cooper]. Almost all are over coverage of the trans debate,” Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing tweeted last month.
1/14 Over the last few months, @realDailyWire has received ~200 violations from @YouTube across our accounts for @MattWalshBlog, @benshapiro, @RealCandaceO, @michaeljknowles, @jordanbpeterson, @andrewklavan, and @imbrettcooper. Almost all are over coverage of the trans debate. 🧵
— Jeremy Boreing (@JeremyDBoreing) June 11, 2023
Meanwhile, Leonardo’s channel remains in good standing with the social media giant — if anything, the controversy has only made his channel more popular. His newer videos have garnered millions of views, orders of magnitude more than most of his previous work — most of that content is similarly centered around anal sex.
Dr. Peterson summed up his thoughts on his podcast’s suspension thusly: “Your woke corporate overlords think you’re too stupid to separate wheat from chaff yourselves.”