YouTube removed some channels affiliated with white nationalism -- but not all
Written by Alex Kaplan
Published
Updated
Update (6/30/20): Since the publication of this article, YouTube has banned the channels of Red Ice TV, America First with Nicholas J Fuentes, American Renaissance, Richard Spencer, Radix journal, and Stefan Molyneux.
YouTube recently took down some channels affiliated with white nationalism after it initialized a policy to more explicitly bar such content. There are many more channels on the platform that have either directly pushed white supremacist ideas or are associated with white nationalists.
In June, YouTube announced that it would prohibit “videos alleging that a group is superior in order to justify discrimination, segregation or exclusion based on qualities like age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status,” specifically mentioning content that promotes “Nazi ideology” or Holocaust denial. The deplatforming comes amid reports documenting how YouTube has become a key tool for radicalizing people to the far-right.
On August 15, the Anti-Defamation League published a report with a list of white nationalist channels operating on the platform. Over a week later, YouTube removed multiple channels that were mentioned in the ADL report, including those of James Allsup, who participated in the deadly August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VA; TRS Radio, the channel for white nationalist programs like The Daily Shoah and Fash the Nation; white nationalist site VDare (the channel has since been restored); and the white nationalist group American Identity Movement (formerly called Identity Evropa).
In addition to the VDare channel that is now back on YouTube, here is a list of multiple other channels that, according to the ADL and Data & Society, have dabbled in white nationalism and hate speech:
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Red Ice TV, a monetized white nationalist channel, has featured discussions about the “JQ” (Jewish Question) and has called immigration advocates “anti-white poison.” Its co-founder posted a video on YouTube titled “Why Interracial Relationships are Pushed on White Women,” claiming that “a mulatto baby” was a “trendy” accessory for modern women -- “forget the purse.”
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The Red Elephants, an alt-right channel that spreads white supremacist rhetoric and participated in a harassment campaign against a New Mexico judge. The channel is co-hosted by anti-immigrant white nationalist Vincent James Foxx, who has pushed false claims to demonize migrants. Foxx also has his own channel on YouTube.
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Stefan Molyneux, a white nationalist who has hosted other white nationalists on his YouTube channel. Molyneux has said on YouTube that he has ceased being “skeptical of the ideas of white nationalism” and that people of color “are trying to pull down white civilization.” Molyneux is also on Twitter, and his anti-Semitism has been promoted on anonymous message board 4chan.
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Richard Spencer, a leader of the “alt-right” and a prominent white supremacist. Spencer’s National Policy Institute and its journal Radix also have a channel on YouTube.
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Martin Sellner, an Austrian Identitarian leader who has pushed to disrupt efforts to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. The alleged mass shooter who killed 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, donated to Sellner’s organization. His fiance, Brittany Pettibone, also has a YouTube channel and has pushed the “white genocide” and “Pizzagate” conspiracy theories. Both of them have made money off of their YouTube content, and both have been refused entry to the United Kingdom.
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Lauren Southern, a white nationalist who filmed a documentary pushing a “white genocide” conspiracy theory that white farmers were being suppressed by Blacks in South Africa. The documentary showed her ties to Afrikaner activists affiliated with white nationalists. She has also supported other white nationalists who tried to disrupt migrant rescue efforts in the Mediterranean.
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America First with Nicholas J Fuentes, a channel hosted by far-right personality Nick Fuentes, who has hosted white nationalists and spewed his own white nationalist rhetoric.
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American Free Press, an anti-Semitic outlet that pushes Holocaust denial and has promoted anti-Semitism on its YouTube channel.
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American Freedom Party, a political party that the Southern Poverty Law Center notes was established by racist skinheads to push white nationalism.
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American Renaissance, an online magazine founded by white nationalist Jared Taylor.
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Arktos, a publishing house for the far-right, that has “churned out books with titles like ‘Generation Identity’ and ‘Race Differences in Ethnocentrism.’”
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Christogenea, a white supremacist site.
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Faith J Goldy, a prominent white nationalist who has also written for VDare.
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The Foundry, a channel co-hosted by Matthew Parrott, an open white nationalist.
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Kenn Daily, which features a show co-hosted by Canadian white supremacist Paul Fromm.
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ThePoliticalCesspool, YouTube channel of a radio show hosted by white nationalist James Edwards. Edwards co-hosts another show, The Occidental Quarterly, with anti-Semite Kevin MacDonald that also has a YouTube channel, TOQ Live.
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Jean-Francois Gariépy, a white nationalist who has collaborated with Spencer.
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Millennial Woes, a Scottish anti-Semite and white nationalist vlogger.
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Bre Faucheux, a co-host of a podcast called This Week on the Alt-Right and who repeatedly appeared on shows with Dayanna Volitich, a teacher who hosted a white nationalist podcast.
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Ayla Stewart, the creator of white nationalist blog Wife With A Purpose, who issued a “white baby challenge” telling people “to have as many white babies as I have contributed.”
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Blonde in the Belly of the Beast, a channel by Rebecca Hargraves who has pushed white nationalism and been praised by Red Ice TV.