Conservative comedian Steven Crowder says You Tube has locked, demonetized his channel

Conservative comedian and commentator Steven Crowder says You Tube has demonetized and locked his channel for allegedly violating the platform's community guidelines.

Crowder announced Wednesday on Instagram that he was "banned from youtube."

The video-sharing website seemed to confirm Crowder's allegations in a statement to the The Verge.

"In order to monetize on YouTube, channels must comply with the YouTube Partner Program policies," the website said. "Channels that repeatedly violate our policies are suspended from the partner program."

Crowder's "Lowder with Crowder" channel is a comedy and political commentary site with almost 5.5 million subscribers.

Crowder claims the video that caused the suspension is related to him speaking about the 2020 presidential election.

"In addition, we removed a video from Steven Crowder’s channel for violating our presidential election integrity policy and applied a strike, meaning uploads are suspended for one week," the You Tube statement also reads. 

You Tube also suspended Crowder's channel from the partnership program in 2019. It was reinstated in August 2020, according to The Daily Wire.

"For the crime of investigative journalism, we are forbidden from uploading, posting, or live-streaming for an entire week on the main channel," Crowder said on his Instagram announcement. "I’ve been warning about this for a long time, and now it’s here. BigTech, and specifically Youtube, have painted a target on Conservative’s backs for years."