YouTube bans Gavin McInnes

Former "Proud Boys" founder and conservative commentator Gavin McInnes reported Monday that he has been banned from YouTube for unspecified "repeated" violations of YouTube's content policies.

According to a message posted on McInnes' Telegram account, YouTube sent him a notice indicating that "due to repeated or severe" violations of YouTube's Community Guidelines, his channel was being immediately suspended.

The notice also stated: "Content glorifying or inciting violence against another person or group of people is not allowed on YouTube. We also don't allow any content that encourages hatred of another person or group of people. We review educational, documentary, artistic, and scientific content on a case-by-case basis. Limited exceptions are made for content with sufficient and appropriate context and where the purpose of posting is clear."

The notice did not indicate which videos or content specifically violated YouTube's guidelines, nor did it indicate the length of the suspension. YouTube did not immediately respond to a request for comment as to whether McInnes' suspension was permanent, or what content specifically led to his suspension.

McInnes was suspended from Twitter in August 2018 and from Facebook in October 2018. The social media companies de-platformed McInnes in response to controversy surrounding the Proud Boys, who have been involved in violent confrontations with left-wing protesters over the last several years. McInnes stated in November 2018 that he was leaving the Proud Boys, but he remains banned from most social media platforms.

In a statement provided to TheBlaze, McInnes said, "My sources tell me it's because I promoted a Parley where Proud Boys threatened to 'take back America.' You can murder and rape if you're a radical leftist but you can't even sort of threaten said group if you're on the right. To YouTube (and Big Tech, MSM, DNC, etc) saying, 'We are going to take our country back' is "hate speech' that 'promotes violence.' We saw this with the Covington Catholic school kids when Savannah Guthrie of The Today Show said, 'there's something aggressive' about standing your ground."

YouTube did not respond to a request for comment for this story.