Soph #homophobia #psycho markets.businessinsider.com
A 14-year-old far-right YouTuber with nearly 1 million followers has been kicked off the platform for violating its hate-speech policies in a video calling the LGBTQ community pedophiles.
YouTube on Thursday terminated the channel belonging to the conservative personality, who goes only by "Soph." She's known in the far-right movement for her simple videos filmed in front of a green screen, in which what she says to the camera is often laced with derogatory and hate-fueled attacks on Muslims, immigrants, and liberals.
Her most recent video was called "Pride & Prejudice" and contained 13 minutes of Soph criticizing the LGBTQ community and Pride Month, which she referred to as "30 days of AIDS-carrying pedophile victims patting themselves on the back for their lifestyles."
The video also included an intro where Soph advertised her merchandise and directed viewers to "make sure to blame me in your manifestos." Soph was likely referencing the hate-speech-filled manifestos that have been found online, including the one published on the messaging board 8chan by the suspect in the El Paso, Texas, mass shooting over the weekend.
Soon after the video was posted July 31, Soph's account was terminated for violating community guidelines related to hate speech, YouTube said in a statement to Business Insider. While the video itself wouldn't be enough for YouTube to take down a channel, the policy violation was Soph's third one in 90 days. Under YouTube's three-strike policy, any channel that violates community guidelines three times within a same 90-day period will be permanently removed from the platform.
Following Soph's channel termination on Thursday, the 14-year-old took to Twitter in response. She tweeted out a picture of her holding what looks like a gun, with a caption reading, "youtube headquarters here I come," according to BuzzFeed News. However, the tweet has since been deleted, and Soph has since tweeted, "gun tweet obviously a joke."
This isn't the first time that Soph has appeared to threaten YouTube. In a video from earlier this year, Soph threatened to kill YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, saying she was "coming for you, and it ain't gonna be pretty." Her YouTube channel was demonetized, and the video in question was taken down, but Soph's channel remained.