YouTube removes far-right creator Soph's account for hate speech
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Google-owned YouTube has taken down the account of a teenage creator after she posted a video that seemed to call for violence against LGBT people.
The video from Soph, a far-right YouTuber known for having posted anti-Muslim videos, is called "Pride and Prejudice." The 12-minute video, which references a range of false or discredited information about the LGBT community, also asks her followers to cite her in their manifesto -- appearing to reference the manifestos that have been left behind by other mass shooters -- including convicted killer Dylann Roof and the alleged Christchurch mosque shooter.
At the video's conclusion, an unidentified speaker addresses an imaginary gay man: "F--k you. Die. Die. F--k you and die."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}YouTube terminated the channel because Soph accumulated three community guidelines strikes in 90 days and violated the company's policies on hate speech.
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Soph's account was removed by YouTube.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The tech giant updated its hate speech polices in June and removed a large number of channels that promoted white supremacy or glorified Nazism. YouTube has been expanding its efforts to remove harmful content in recent years, in part by supporting authoritative content and reducing the spread of so-called borderline content, although some critics have charged it isn't moving fast enough.
After her channel was removed, Soph tweeted an image of herself with a gun, writing "youtube headquarters here I come," according to BuzzFeed News. However, she later deleted it and called it a joke. YouTube's campus in San Bruno, California was the site of a shooting last year.
"It's a hard computer science problem," Google CEO Sundar Pichai has said about hate speech controversies. "It's also a hard societal problem because we need better frameworks around what is hate speech, what’s not, and how do we as a company make those decisions at scale, and get it right without making mistakes."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Although Soph's YouTube and Patreon accounts have been removed, she remains on Twitter and still posts content on Bit Chute.