YouTube released a series of tweets on June 30th, the last day of Pride month, issuing an apology to LGBT+ Youtubers and fans.
The company took to Twitter in a four-part post saying “we’re sorry and we want to do better”.
The first tweet said, “It’s the last day of Pride Month and we wanted to reach out to the LGBTQ community,” they wrote on the social media platform. “We’re proud of the incredible LGBTQ voices on our platform and the important role you play in the lives of young people.”
They went on to acknowledge the past criticism they’ve received regarding the monetization policy for LGBT+ content creators and the anti-LGBT ads that appeared before videos.
YouTube said they are taking steps to correct and improve their current policies.
We’ve taken action on the ads that violate our policies, and we are tightening our enforcement. And when we hear concerns about how we’re implementing our monetization policy, we take them seriously and make improvements if needed. 3/4
— YouTube (@YouTube) June 30, 2018
They finished with a final tweet saying, “It’s critical to us that the LGBTQ community feels safe, welcome, equal, and supported on YouTube. Your work is incredibly powerful and we are committed to working with you to get this right.”
The day before the company tweeted their apology, they promoted Pride Live, an event sponsored partly by GLAAD.
In the past, Youtube created a filter that blocked LGBT+ content, they later apologized.
Youtubers have also criticized the platform for homophobic ads that appeared before videos. Creators also learned their videos would have ads removed and be demonetized if specific words were used in titles such as “transgender”.
Many who replied to the Twitter thread called out the company for their policies targetting the queer community and didn’t take the apology seriously. They were quick to point out that the tweets don’t outline any plan of action or serious change.
YouTube waited for the very last day of pride to cobble together a piss-poor apology and a claim that they'll *maybe* fix things and this is honestly so disrespectful and shows how little they actually care about the LGBTQ+ community. https://t.co/xBdPxNVSVx
— cara is non-existent ?? (@partlycara) July 2, 2018
we've regularly told YouTube *exactly* what they can do to make their site better. with all their money/resources it's clear they have the ability to make changes but not the incentive or desire to.
— Riley J. Dennis (@RileyJayDennis) July 1, 2018
Others are more hopeful. They believe that with enough support and encouragement, YouTube will get it right this time.
© 2018 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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