YouTube

==== Use among white supremacists ====
Before 2019, YouTube took steps to remove specific videos or channels related to [[Supremacism|supremacist]] content that had violated its acceptable use policies but otherwise did not have site-wide policies against [[hate speech]].<ref name="youtubeblog june2019">{{cite web |date=June 5, 2019 |title=Our ongoing work to tackle hate |url=https://youtube.googleblog.com/2019/06/our-ongoing-work-to-tackle-hate.html |access-date=April 9, 2020 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

In the wake of the March 2019 [[Christchurch mosque attacks]], YouTube and other sites like Facebook and Twitter that allowed user-submitted content drew criticism for doing little to moderate and control the spread of hate speech, which was considered to be a factor in the rationale for the attacks.<ref>{{cite web |last=Robertson |first=Adi |date=March 15, 2019 |title=Questions about policing online hate are much bigger than Facebook and YouTube |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/15/18267638/new-zealand-christchurch-mass-shooting-online-hate-facebook-youtube |access-date=April 9, 2020 |work=[[The Verge]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Timberg |first1=Craig |last2=Harwell |first2=Drew |last3=Shaban |first3=Hamza |last4=Ba Tran |first4=Andrew |last5=Fung |first5=Brian |date=March 15, 2020 |title=The New Zealand shooting shows how YouTube and Facebook spread hate and violent images – yet again |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/03/15/facebook-youtube-twitter-amplified-video-christchurch-mosque-shooting/ |access-date=April 9, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> These platforms were pressured to remove such content, but in an interview with ''[[The New York Times]]'', YouTube's chief product officer Neal Mohan said that unlike content such as [[ISIS]] videos which take a particular format and thus easy to detect through computer-aided algorithms, general hate speech was more difficult to recognize and handle, and thus could not readily take action to remove without human interaction.<ref>{{cite web |last=Roose |first=Kevin |date=March 29, 2019 |title=YouTube's Product Chief on Online Radicalization and Algorithmic Rabbit Holes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/technology/youtube-online-extremism.html |access-date=April 9, 2020 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

YouTube joined an initiative led by France and New Zealand with other countries and tech companies in May 2019 to develop tools to be used to block [[online hate speech]] and to develop regulations, to be implemented at the national level, to be levied against technology firms that failed to take steps to remove such speech, though the United States declined to participate.<ref>{{cite web |last=Browne |first=Ryan |date=May 15, 2019 |title=New Zealand and France unveil plans to tackle online extremism without the US on board |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/new-zealand-france-unveil-plans-to-tackle-online-extremism-without-us.html |access-date=April 9, 2020 |publisher=[[CNBC]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Willsher |first=Kim |date=May 15, 2019 |title=Leaders and tech firms pledge to tackle extremist violence online |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/15/jacinda-ardern-emmanuel-macron-christchurch-call-summit-extremist-violence-online |access-date=April 9, 2020 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> Subsequently, on June 5, 2019, YouTube announced a major change to its terms of service, "specifically prohibiting videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion based on qualities like age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status." YouTube identified specific examples of such videos as those that "promote or glorify Nazi ideology, which is inherently discriminatory". YouTube further stated it would "remove content denying that well-documented violent events, like the Holocaust or the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, took place."<ref name="youtubeblog june2019" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Newton |first=Casey |date=June 5, 2019 |title=YouTube just banned supremacist content, and thousands of channels are about to be removed |url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/5/18652576/youtube-supremacist-content-ban-borderline-extremist-terms-of-service |access-date=April 9, 2020 |work=[[The Verge]]}}</ref>

In October 2019, YouTube banned the main channel of [[Red Ice]], a white supremacist multimedia company, for hate speech violations. The channel had about 330,000 subscribers. [[Lana Lokteff]] and Red Ice promoted a backup channel in an attempt to circumvent the ban.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ramirez |first1=Nikki McCann |date=October 18, 2019 |title=White nationalist Red Ice TV is promoting a backup channel to skirt its YouTube ban |language=en |work=[[Media Matters for America]] |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/how-white-nationalist-red-ice-tv-working-around-its-youtube-ban |url-status=live |access-date=October 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020215745/https://www.mediamatters.org/white-nationalism/how-white-nationalist-red-ice-tv-working-around-its-youtube-ban |archive-date=October 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Gais |first1=Hannah |date=October 21, 2019 |title=YouTube Takes Down Red Ice's Main Channel |language=en |work=HateWatch |publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]] |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/10/21/youtube-takes-down-red-ices-main-channel |url-status=live |access-date=October 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022081513/https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/10/21/youtube-takes-down-red-ices-main-channel |archive-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref> A week later, the backup channel was also removed by YouTube.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Gais |first1=Hannah |date=October 23, 2019 |title=YouTube Yanks Second Red Ice Channel |language=en |work=HateWatch |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/10/23/youtube-yanks-second-red-ice-channel |url-status=live |access-date=October 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025010112/https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/10/23/youtube-yanks-second-red-ice-channel |archive-date=October 25, 2019}}</ref><ref name="DailyDot">{{cite news |last1=Katzowitz |first1=Josh |date=October 24, 2019 |title=Red Ice, a popular white supremacist YouTube channel, has been shut down |language=en |work=[[The Daily Dot]] |url=https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/red-ice-youtube-ban/ |url-status=live |access-date=November 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028205415/https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/red-ice-youtube-ban/ |archive-date=October 28, 2019}}</ref>

In June 2020, YouTube banned several channels associated with white supremacy, including those of [[Stefan Molyneux]], [[David Duke]], and [[Richard B. Spencer]], asserting these channels violated their policies on hate speech. The ban occurred the same day that [[Reddit]] announced the ban on several hate speech sub-forums including [[r/The Donald]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Alexander |first=Julia |date=June 29, 2020 |title=YouTube bans Stefan Molyneux, David Duke, Richard Spencer, and more for hate speech |url=https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/29/21307303/youtube-bans-molyneux-duke-richard-spencer-conduct-hate-speech |access-date=June 29, 2020 |work=[[The Verge]]}}</ref>