Why was Richard Spencer banned from YouTube & will he return to the platform?

In June 2019, video streaming platform YouTube announced its decision to ban racially insensitive content from its platform. The decision was taken in the wake of growing protests in America and all over the world. The Black Lives Matter movement began after the death of 46-year-old African American man, George Floyd.

Read | Blackpink's 'How You Like That' breaks YouTube record as most-viewed song premiere

However, for almost a month, the company did not undertake any action on banning the accounts that were promoting White Supremacist ideology, one of which was led by Richard Spencer. However, amid a flurry of similar actions taken by various companies, YouTube has acted on its decision.

Who is Richard Spencer?

Richard Spencer is 42-year-old Massachusetts native from America. He is known for his supremacist activism. Spencer became wildly known for his activism on behalf of the all-right movement in 2016 and 2017. It was reported by a media outlet that when Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential elections, Richard Spencer told his followers to party like its 1933, which is the year when Adolf Hitler became the dictator of Germany.

Image Credit: Richard Spencer (Twitter)

Read | Steph Curry unveils teaser trailer for new YouTube series 'Ultimate Home Championship'

Why was Richard Spencer banned from YouTube?

Richard Spencer had his own channel and an affiliated channel for the National Policy Institute. YouTube was a major platform that the conspiracy theorist and activist used to spread his ideas among his community. A YouTube spokesperson revealed during an interview with a media outlet that, the platform adheres to strict policies in order to prohibit hate speech. 

The spokesperson added that after updating the platforms guidelines to better address the supremacist content, there was a spike in video removals from the platform. Reportedly, 25,000 channels have been terminated for violating the platforms hate speech policies. YouTube also revealed to a media portal that Richard Spencer's channel on the platform among others was repeatedly violating its rules. 

Richard Spencer’s content was violating the platform's policies by claiming that members of protected groups in America, were intrinsically inferior to others. However, YouTube hasn’t yet addressed why it took so long for them to remove the channels which were propagating hate.

Read | Who is Logan Paul's girlfriend? Find out who this 25-year-old YouTube star is with

Richard Spencer YouTube

Through his YouTube channel and social media platforms, Richard Spencer had called for the reconstitution of the European Union into a white racial empire. According to Spencer, the new racial empire would replace the diverse European ethnic identities that exist in Europe right now. However, the majority of European nations, with Poland being at the helm have banned Richard Spencer and denounced his call for 'white racial empire'.

Read | Jenna Marbles announces her decision of quitting her YouTube channel; See video here

YouTube has taken the decision to ban Richard Spencer, at a time when many social media platforms are clearing up their platforms of content that can propagate hate. YouTube has permanently disabled Spencer's Radix YouTube channel. Reddit has recently revamped its content policy and banned over 2,000 subreddits. Mark Zuckerberg led Facebook is facing an advertisers boycott, due to the network’s supposed failure to stop the spread of hateful content.