Controversy As YouTube Restricts Influencer’s Account For Violating Policies With Call For Black Abortions

Following complaints, YouTube has restricted a popular channel that posted videos calling for the ‘elimination’ of Black men by terminating pregnancies.

YouTube stopped monetizing YouTube influencer Cynthia G’s channel and removed one video calling for Black male abortions for violating the platform’s hate speech policy. 

However, other videos with similar content remain, renewing scrutiny over the platform’s content moderation policies.  

Who Is Cynthia G?

YouTube influencer Cynthia G joined the platform in July 2016, describing her channel as a place to start the conversation on reforming Black women.

“This is all about empowering Black women and doing my part to help liberate Black women’s minds from the toxic grasp of Black Male Worship,” the channel states.

The YouTube channel has more than 130,000 subscribers and has generated nearly 65 million views since its creation.

As of last week, a video posted in November 2021 titled “If Aborting Black Males Isn’t The Solution, What Is?” qualified for ad monetization despite violating YouTube’s hate speech policy.

What Happened?

In the video, according to Ars Technica, Cynthia G said that “a lot of people” considered the “solution” to be “something horrible that is genocidal.”

She also provided a racist justification, saying that the only way to counter Black male violence is to “eliminate” Black men.

YouTube has now removed the video and stopped monetizing the channel after an Ars reader asked them to investigate why these videos do not violate YouTube’s community guidelines.

According to YouTube, the removed video violated the platform’s hate speech policy, prohibiting content that promotes violence or hatred against individuals based on protected attributes.

YouTube has not removed other videos flagged by Ars on the same topic.

They did not, however, comment or clarify why the videos that remained online do not violate community guidelines.

Due to the strike issued, the channel has been prevented from uploading videos for a week.

The account’s creator did not respond to Ars’ request to comment.

YouTube’s Content Moderation Problem

Research firm Bot Sentinel found at least two dozen YouTube channels with “flagrant” policy violations were allowed to continue posting without censure from YouTube moderators.

Bot Sentinel reviewed 29 YouTube channels and analyzed over 35,000 transcripts using machine learning and AI to identify toxic language.

They found that each of the 29 YouTube channels reviewed contained multiple policy violations.

For example, the Trevor Coult MC channel engaged in threats of violence, racism, and transphobia.

Despite many policy violations, YouTube didn’t terminate the account after multiple reports.

They also found that a YouTuber who repeatedly threatened violence against the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, stating she should be strangled to death, wasn’t removed from the platform.

One channel, in particular, mentioned Meghan Markle 6,225 times, and YouTube awarded the channel with a silver creator award for reaching 100,000 subscribers.

YouTube’s spokesperson told Ars that YouTube enforces policies rigorously but is not always perfect, which is why YouTube continually works to improve the systems it has in place to flag violating content.

“A lot of these folks would not do what they’re doing if YouTube was not rewarding them. 

And let’s be clear here, they are rewarding them,” Bot Sentinel founder Christopher Bouzy told Rolling Stone.

“When you allow these folks to monetize this content and you’re the company that is paying them, at the end of the day, you’re pretty much facilitating the harassment, the vitriol that we’re currently seeing.”