A group of creators are suing YouTube and Google, claiming they have faced discrimination based on their identities and orientations.
Amp Somers of the sex education channel Watts The Safeword has launched legal action against YouTube and its parent company Google for discrimination.
Announced in a video published on 14 August, a collection of creators, including Bria Kam and Chrissy Chambers, Chase Ross, and Lindsay Amer, are also supporting the lawsuit.
Together they form a ‘Rainbow Coalition”, which aims to tackle the demonetisation of LGBTQ+ YouTube channels.
Issues raised in the video include apparent misplaced targeting from the algorithms that determine which content is suitable for advertisers, with the collective planning to take the company to court in California to address these concerns.
Commenting on the lawsuit, Chase said YouTube “flagged our pride”.
“They restricted us, they demonetised us, and they did not stand up for us,” he said.
The news comes after UK creator Alfie Deyes asked YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki about the demonetisation of LGBTQ+ content on the platform, describing it as “the number one question that [he] got asked”.
Susan responded that YouTube “do not automatically demonetise LGBTQ content,” and when asked whether there were “flag words” which triggered this response in the algorithm, said that there “shouldn’t be”.
While the lawsuit has been filed in the US, creators in other countries have come out in support of the venture, including UK-based creator Bradley Birkholz.
In response to Amp’s announcement, Bradley tweeted and said it was “great you guys are doing this”, sharing his own article on censorship from Gay Star News in October 2018.
He states he was “frustrated” that “nothing was done” about the issues of demonetisation and flagging at the time of its publication.
Bringing this one back as the news of LGBT youtubers suing for discrimation has made headlines.
YouTubes algorithms is specifically generated to flag LGBT+ related content. This is a direct attack on the LGBT community and has no other excuse, it’s homophobia. https://t.co/Xi4BZAx1iX
— 𝖊𝖒𝖔 𝖒𝖔𝖒 (@YasmineSumman) August 16, 2019
Creator Yasmin Summan also commented on the news on Twitter, and said: “YouTubes algorithms [sic] is specifically generated to flag LGBT+ related content.
“This is a direct attack on the LGBT community and has no other excuse, it’s homophobia.”
Her tweet also linked to a post from June 2018, where she uploaded two identical videos with different titles “to test if Youtube actually flag LGBT keywords”.
A video titled “GAY TRANSGENDER LESBIAN LGBT” was flagged as unsuitable for advertisers, while the other was not.
Further information and updates on the campaign can be found on Amp Somers’ Twitter account.
Want more?
Read about the LGBTQ+ and Gender Identity panels at Summer in the City 2019, whether YouTube is doing enough to support LGBTQ+ creators, or find some LGBTQ+ creators to watch.
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