nerdcity accuses youtube of demonitizing lgbtq content

Supporting years of speculation that YouTube had been targeting LGBTQ-related content for demonetization, the YouTube channel Nerd City concluded that specific words related to the LGBTQ community triggered demonetization.

In a recent video, Nerd City reported the findings from a study conducted with YouTube Analyzed and Sealow that YouTube's algorithm demonetized any video that contained LGBTQ related words regardless of context. The study analyzed 15,296 words and phrases and replaced words such as "gay" and "lesbian" with "happy" and "friend"

"If we took a demonetized video,” Nerd City's host says, “and changed the words ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ to ‘happy’ or ‘friend’, every single time the status of the video changed to advertiser-friendly.”

"Most of the words are things which we would expect YouTube to censor. Many others put YouTube directly at odds with its progressive messages. What the bot thinks we’re talking about determines who sees the video. If the bot determines a problem, it won’t appear in subscriber feeds."

The video supports accusations that YouTube had been demonetizing LGBTQ+ content, despite YouTube's executives claiming that this was not true. A group of LGBTQ+ creators is currently suing YouTube for this alleged discrimination.

"YouTube is engaged in discriminatory, anticompetitive, and unlawful conduct that harms a protected class of persons under California law," the lawsuit states.

"This is LGBTQ terminology being the sole reason for a video being demonetized despite perfectly reasonable context," said Sealow.

Nerd City explains that they and their partners uploaded one-to-two second videos without audio or video that would initiate or warrant demonetization, focusing primarily on what words or phrases would trigger flagging. They found that of the 15,296 word and phrases tested words such as "straight" and "heterosexual" did not flag demonetization while "gay" and "homosexual" did.

In the video, they speculate that YouTube may do this due to the laws and norms of other countries where YouTube is available, catering to places in the world where homosexuality is illegal. However, they criticize the company for not being forthright with its creators and audience.

YouTube has continued to deny these accusations. In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for YouTube said, "Our systems do not restrict or demonetize videos based on these factors or the inclusion of terms like ‘gay’ or ‘transgender.'"