Conservative comedian Steven Crowder is again being censored on YouTube, catching a “hard strike” and a two-week ban from live-streaming or posting any content leading into the consequential midterm elections.
Crowder has routinely been in the crosshairs of YouTube’s censorship, often without any real transparency from the Big Tech platform. This time was no different.
YouTube told Crowder his video on Elon Musk taking over Twitter had violated their ambiguous “harassment, threats, and cyberbullying” policy without any explanation about what exactly caused the violation.
The Daily Wire reached out to YouTube about the suspension and strike, as well as the company’s transparency with their creators.
“We removed content from and issued a strike to the StevenCrowder channel for violating our harassment policy, which prohibits content that graphically sexualizes or degrades an individual,” YouTube policy communications manager Ivy Choi told The Daily Wire. “As a result, the StevenCrowder channel is suspended from uploading content to YouTube for two weeks.”
“This current strike is on a show in which we discussed the importance of Elon Musk’s affect on Big Tech, and specifically the effect on Big Tech’s undue influence going into mid-terms, putting their thumb on the scales of the election,” Crowder told The Daily Wire via email on Saturday. “It was also a show in which I promoted that I would be interviewing a surging (Arizona gubernatorial candidate) Kari Lake next week, right in the lead up to the election.”
This strike is “different,” Crowder told The Daily Wire.
“Whether the intent was to silence a currently surging GOP gubernatorial candidate or not — along with burying a story that would shine a light on Big Tech’s ability to do so — the end result is the same,” he explained. “Millions of individual people, likely Arizonans who wanted to hear from Kari Lake, directly will not. Millions of people who wanted to know about Elon Musk’s changes to Twitter, and by proxy, their biased practices, will now not.”
The conservative emphasized his point, calling these midterms the most important of our lifetimes.
Notably, Crowder’s influence has continued to grow despite repeated “strikes” and censorship from Big Tech platforms. On YouTube, the commentator has generated tens of millions of views this month alone, not including views from other platforms where his content is shared.
On the disruption this suspension will cause to Crowder’s team, he told The Daily Wire, “We all know how important momentum and recent views are to YouTube when the algorithms determine which content to showcase. Now, with two weeks off the platform, it will wipe that significant market from being achieved, and take a long time to rebuild our momentum in the sphere of their algorithms.”
On Instagram, Crowder echoed the same message. “I’ve been here before, but this one is… very different. YouTube has issued yet ANOTHER hard strike to the channel,” he told his million-plus followers.
“Look, we are going into an election season,” he wrote. “One where, if the scales of media were balanced, conservative Republicans would win in a landslide! They can’t have that. Make no mistake, there is a reason that these two strikes directly relate to a future governor who has spoken out against big tech, support of a man (Musk) whose purchase and plan for a big tech platform would fundamentally allow more free, and fair media coverage of elections.”
“It’s also no coincidence that this happened as we were nearing 100,000,000 plays/downloads within 30 days,” he wrote. “It’s not about the number. It’s about YOU choosing truth over their lies.”
“So what do we do? Do we roll over and die? Hell no! Starting Monday through November 17th (back on YouTube on November 21st), we will be streaming exclusively on Rumble and of course the extended show on #MugClub as we always do,” Crowder added. “Make no mistake, the machine is in full force. They are deathly afraid of you and the tectonic shift which is beginning to take place in our country. Never give up, never surrender, and FIGHT LIKE HELL!!
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Related: YouTube Bans Steven Crowder’s Exclusive Interview With Kari Lake