YouTube suspended monetization on all 3 of Shane Dawson's channels after his controversial content resurfaced

• YouTube confirmed to Insider that the platform suspended monetization on all three of Shane Dawson's YouTube channels over old content that violates its Community Guidelines.
• Dawson has disappeared from the internet over growing backlash against his old content, which includes him having used the "n-word" on camera, wearing blackface, and using racist stereotypes and slurs.
• YouTube says it may take exceptional action against a creator who harms the broader YouTube community, even if the content in question was uploaded a long time ago.

YouTube confirmed to Insider that it has indefinitely suspended monetization on all three of Shane Dawson's YouTube channels. The news was first reported by Tubefilter, after YouTube fans noticed that the social media analytics website SocialBlade showed Dawson was no longer making money from any of his YouTube channels as of June 29.

The three channels that were affected include Dawson's main channel "Shane," which has over 22 million subscribers and has accrued more than 4 billion views. It also affects Dawson's archive channel "Shane Dawson TV," which previously stored old videos of Dawson's. This past week, after growing backlash over his old content, Dawson removed all the videos from "Shane Dawson TV."

Dawson's "Shane Glossin" channel was also demonetized. He planned to use it as his beauty side channel, but he recently announced in a poorly-received Twitter rant that he would be leaving the beauty community due to "dramatic gurus."

YouTube says it has clear policies against hate and harassment, and that the platform reviews new allegations of community guidelines violations as it is made aware of them, even if the content in question is old. YouTube says it may take action if the creator's conduct is judged to have a broad, negative impact on the wider YouTube community. The move against Dawson is exceptional but not unprecedented — YouTube suspended top creator Logan Paul's monetization for several weeks after his controversial "suicide forest" vlog depicted Paul searching for and finding a body of a person who died by suicide.

YouTube also made the decision to suspend Dawson's monetization due to his on- and off-platform conduct, which could have broader implications for creators that are targeted by a wave of backlash. In Dawson's case, public callouts from Jaden and Jada Pinkett Smith over an old video of Dawson pretending to masturbate to a poster of 11-year-old Willow Smith may have contributed to YouTube's decision.

Other content that sparked broad backlash included Dawson describing a young girl as "sexy" and comparing pedophilia to a foot fetish on his "Shane and Friends" podcast, which ran from 2013 to 2017. Members of the YouTube drama community have compiled several viral threads and made YouTube videos over the past week detailing Dawson's old, offensive behavior, which has also included his YouTube content between 2008 and 2010, when he created skits featuring himself as characters based on offensive stereotypes. During this period of his channel, Dawson said the "n-word" slur on camera and dressed in blackface.

Dawson put out an apology video on June 26 and addressed his racist actions, saying he was "willing to lose everything" to take accountability for the old content. During that video, he also said he would never inappropriately sexualize a child.

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