Jordan Peterson (left) and Elliot Page (right). (Getty Images)
YouTube has demonetised two of Jordan Peterson’s videos in which he misgenders trans actor Elliot Page and claims gender-affirming surgery is “Nazi medical experiment-level wrong”.
A spokesperson from YouTube told Axios that the controversial author’s two videos “violate our advertising policies around hateful and derogatory content, and have been demonetised”. This means that YouTube and Peterson will not be able to earn income directly, such as through ad revenue, from the videos.
The first video to be demonetised is titled “Twitter Ban“, which was posted on 1 July and has since racked up more than three million views.
The 15-minute YouTube video sees Peterson recount his alleged side of the story after being removed from Twitter over a tweet during Pride Month which said: “Remember when pride was a sin?” The tweet was followed by a dig at Elliot Page where Peterson said the actor had his “breasts removed by a criminal physician”.
Peterson attacks Twitter’s policies in the video while repeatedly misgendering and dead-naming Page. He also slams gender-affirming healthcare and calls transgender identity “a viciously harmful fad”.
In a second video posted on 15 July titled “Butchers & Liars Reprise”, Peterson says gender-affirming care is “Auschwitz and Gulag-level wrong. It’s Nazi medical experiment-level wrong.” This video has been viewed more than 500,000 times.
Although YouTube has demonetised the policy-violating videos, they are still available to view on the platform and Peterson has not been stopped from making money off of his other videos.
“We set a high bar for what videos can make money on YouTube,” YouTube told Axios. “Many videos that are allowed on YouTube are not eligible to monetise because they do not meet our ad-friendly guidelines.”
GLAAD made a statement supporting YouTube’s decision to demonetise Peterson and said: “In demonetising these two videos, YouTube is confirming that Jordan Peterson’s hate-driven anti-trans rhetoric is in violation of the platform’s community guidelines.”
However, the LGTBQ+ organisation stated that the video should be removed entirely.
“It is shameful that these videos remain active, with millions of views, continuing to perpetuate hateful and false narratives at the expense of trans people everywhere,” they said.
In July, GLAAD released its annual Social Media Safety Index, which scores major social media sites; YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, on how well they serve LGBTQ+ users.
None of the social media platforms received a passing grade. YouTube scored a 45.11 out of 100 and received a zero for it’s lack of action to stop misgendering and dead-naming.