YouTube removes advertising from account accused of homophobic abuse

Video-sharing site demonetises Steven Crowder after initially finding him innocent of cyberbullying

YouTube has removed advertising from material by a user who subjected a journalist to repeated homophobic abuse in videos, after the platform faced criticism over its failure to act.

Carlos Maza, a video journalist for the US news site Vox, went public last week with a complaint that the rightwing YouTube personality Steven Crowder was engaged in a long-term homophobic harassment campaign. In a compilation video Maza created of some of his mentions on Crowder's show, the host attacks Maza as a "gay Mexican", a "lispy queer" and a "token Vox gay atheist sprite".