A Bloomberg investigation of YouTube last April found that videos produced for an extreme, alt-right audience are just as popular as music, sports, and gaming on the platform.
These channels allow for the rampant spread of misinformation, hate speech, and harassment. Carlos Maza, host of “Strikethrough” a Vox-produced YouTube show that explores the challenges facing the news media in the age of Trump, perfectly illustrated the cycle of abuse in a recent tweet thread.
Maza knows the cycle first-hand because he has been targeted by conservative YouTuber Steven Crowder who routinely refers to Maza by derogatory terms such as “anchor baby” and “lispy queer.”
Maza says that Crowder’s comments have resulted in a “a wall of homophobic [and] racist abuse on Instagram and Twitter.”
After repeatedly flagging Crowder’s YouTube videos and receiving zero response, Maza took to Twitter to vent his frustration.
So, I have pretty thick skin when it comes to online harassment, but something has been really bothering me.
— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 31, 2019
