LGBTQ+ creators file a lawsuit against YouTube for alleged discrimination

A group of LGBTQ creators is reportedly filing a lawsuit against YouTube for allegedly discriminating by suppressing recommendations and making it difficult to earn ad revenue. As The Verge reports, the lawsuit alleges that the Google-owned service uses unlawful practices that block and financially harms the LGBT creators making community-focused videos that include words such as “gay”, “bisexual”, or “transgender” in the title. It further states that YouTube’s regulation of speech has resulted in top quality and protected LGBTQ+ content getting restricted while homophobic are free to post obscene content. [caption id=“attachment_7060921” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”]  Representational Image.[/caption] A YouTube spokesperson told The Verge that the company’s policies “have no notion of sexual orientation or gender identity and our systems do not restrict or demonetize videos based on these factors or the inclusion of terms like ‘gay’ or ‘transgender.’” The lawsuit essentially speaks out about YouTube’s alleged treatment of the LGBTQ creator community in the past. The complainants include Brett Somers, Lindsay Amer, Chris Knight, Celso Dulay, Cameron Stiehl, Chrissy Chambers, and Chase Ross. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki **recently made a statement** that the service does not automatically demonetise LGBTQ content based on certain words placed in the title. The platform faced backlash for its recent policy decisions regarding conservative commentator Steven Crowder’s channel. Soon after this **Google CEO Sundar Pichai also shared a letter with company employees**  saying that he regrets “that this happened during Pride month when we should be celebrating the incredible LGBTQ+ community you all have built at Google.” With inputs from ANI.