YouTube slammed for showing ANTI-GAY ads from ‘hate group’ on LGBT videos
The controversial ads are fuelling a growing backlash among the platform's thriving LGBT community
YOUTUBE has been blasted by users for allowing anti-gay ads to air in front of LGBT videos.
The adverts come from controversial US organisation "Alliance Defending Freedom", which has been deemed a by non-profit the Southern Poverty Law Centre.
The outfit claims to "protect the rights of" Christians to refuse to deal with gay people and has reportedly linked homosexuality to paedophilia and championed the sterilisation of transgender people.
Chase Ross, 26, a YouTube creator and self-professed trans activist alleged in a series of videos that the anti-gay ads are being added to his clips, reports .
Though he admitted that the fault probably lies with the site's algorithms, he slammed YouTube for letting the homophobic messages slip through the cracks.
“I know that it’s the algorithm and the bots and the way that everything is coded,” Ross says in a recent video. “But you’re allowing an anti-LGBT ad, a very homophobic and transphobic company, [to] advertise their message."
He added that it's hypocritical for YouTube to openly support diversity on its platform on the one hand, while allowing the anti-gay ads in the first place.
Other users who came across the adverts also called out the site for distributing the clips.
"Hey @TeamYouTube do you mind explaining why I’m receiving LITERAL ANTI-LGBT organization advertisements now? (Yep, with a donation link)," tweeted Shannon Tyler.
She added: "I thought the whole point was to keep the site “non-political” & the videos “advertised friendly”. What even is this garbage?"
"Hi @YouTube . Can I ask why you are showing me, a gay man, an ad for an anti-LGBT group?," tweeted Nick Orbe.
"When I hit the why button it said it is because of the time of day and the video I’m watching. That also doesn’t make sense because @pewdiepie isn’t anti-gay...."
In response to Chase Ross's tweet linking to the anti-gay ad in its entirety (which is still live on YouTube at the time of writing), YouTube issued a response that only deepened the crisis.
In its reply, the company directed fuming creators to its help page, telling them they have the option to block the ads themselves.
"Hi—you can keep these ads from appearing by setting an ad exclusion for a specific advertiser URL, general ad content categories, or sensitive content categories. Here's the link: //goo.gl/tA56w4 . We are looking at ways to improve our policies going forward," tweeted the firm.
A number of YouTube users have since criticised the company's statement on Twitter using harsh expletives and accused it of being homophobic.
One Twitter user named @mollysuxx suggested that the ads violate YouTube's guidelines, specifically its hate speech policies.
"We encourage free speech and try to defend your right to express unpopular points of view, but we don't permit hate speech," state YouTube's for hateful content.
";Hate speech refers to content that promotes violence against or has the primary purpose of inciting hatred against individuals or groups based on certain attributes, such as...sexual orientation/gender identity" adds the company.
YouTube has since issued an official statement on the controversy.
"We have policies against ads on YouTube that incite hatred or promote discrimination, and all ads that run on the platform have to comply with these policies," stated the company.
"Even when an ad does not violate our policies, we understand that creators may not want ads from certain advertisers appearing on their videos.
"That’s why we give creators the ability to block ads from an advertiser in their AdSense account. We also give creators the option to block certain categories of ads if they choose. In the meantime, we are looking at ways to improve our policies going forward."
We've reached out to YouTube for further clarification and will update this article with its response.
This isn't the first time YouTube has butted heads with its thriving LGBT community.
Back in 2017, the platform was effectively accused of censoring LGBT content by marking videos on gender and sexuality as inappropriate content.
Consequently, those videos were hidden for people who had opted-in to YouTube's restricted mode, which hides objectionable clips on the web and mobile.
Most read in tech
YouTube issued an apology following a backlash from popular LGBT creators like Tyler Oakley and Rowan Ellis, claiming it had fixed the bug that caused the blanket ban.
It also updated its policies to explicitly state that wholesome LGBT clips with no graphic or mature language would be allowed in restricted mode.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.