YouTube deactivates two Oath Keepers channels after seditious conspiracy fees | Engadget

Two YouTube channels linked to the far-right extremist group Oath Keepers have been deactivated by the web site, the Google subsidiary informed Axios. It wasn’t precisely as a result of content material of their movies, nevertheless, however as a result of a few of the group’s members had been charged with seditious conspiracy over their position within the January sixth, 2021 US Capitol breach. One of the deactivated channels was named “Oath Keepers” and had fewer than 45,000 subscribers, whereas the opposite belonged to group chief Stewart Rhodes and had fewer than 20 subscribers. Rhodes (pictured above) was arrested for his position within the assault and was one of many members who had been charged.

YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi informed Axios that the channels broke the platform’s creator accountability pointers. According to these pointers, YouTube might terminate a channel if there’s “significant evidence presented in a court of law against a creator for a very egregious crime” and that channel’s “YouTube comment is closely related to the crime.” YouTube stated that the termination “follows evidence presented in federal indictments against the Oath Keepers and the charges against them and their role in the Jan. 6 attacks.”

According to the Justice Department, the Oath Keepers mentioned their plans to grab the Capitol constructing utilizing encrypted messaging apps and social networks. The group has lengthy used on-line platforms to disseminate data, together with COVID-19 conspiracy theories with QAnon hashtags and threats of violence. Twitter banned the group again in 2020 for violating its insurance policies on violent extremist teams. In addition to eradicating two channels, YouTube will now not enable the Oath Keepers to create, use or personal another channel. Further, it can take away re-uploads of its outdated movies and can even delete new channels that attempt to reuse content material from the deleted accounts. 

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