Star Wars fans slam YouTube as it says content attacking The Acoylte's Amandla Stenberg is not 'violative'

The Star Wars fandom, one of the biggest fanbases in the world of science fiction and fantasy, has taken aim at YouTube this week after the video platform shared a policy decision which said content attacking The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg was not “violative” and does not go against its policies.

Stenberg, who played the lead role of Osha in the since-cancelled Disney+ series, has previously spoken out about the “hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred and hateful language” she experienced around her involvement in the show.

In a series of posts to her Instagram Stories last month – quoted by The Hollywood Reporter – the Hunger Games actor said: “It’s not lost on me, the way that these events have unfolded is also due to the hyper-divisiveness of the time that we live in. That is driven, I would say, at this point, by echo chambers of thought and algorithms that reinforce our biases.

“And I think that applies to everybody, but I think that in a particular sect of people, it manifests as a lot of fear for what is changing, a lot of hatred for anything that is other.”

Following Stenberg’s comments, members of the Star Wars community have called on YouTube to “enforce its community guidelines” and remove monetisation from three channels – identified as Geeks + Gamers, RK Outpost and Nerdrotic – “immediately and permanently”.

An open letter, shared by the Rewriting Ripley podcast on Wednesday, reads: “Together, Geeks + Gamers, RK Outpost and Nerdrotic have led the charge against Amandla even before the release of The Acolyte, producing nearly 40 videos relevant to Amandla and The Acolyte since May.

“These channels have asserted that Amandla is ‘vapid and narcissistic’, ‘the adult pretender’, ‘dumb’, and a ‘half-Black b****’ for defending herself against racism. These channels have gaslit Amandla by claiming she’s ‘playing the victim card’, with RK Outpost proclaiming, ‘you’ve never been oppressed in your goddamn life, you b****.

“These YouTubers also use racist dog whistles including the ‘angry Black woman’ stereotype.

“We understand that YouTube has an important role to play in promoting free speech, however, content uploaded by Geeks + Gamers, RK Outpost and Nerdrotic is not ‘opinion’ or ‘criticism’. It is prolonged, targeted harassment against women of colour.”

The open letter was posted to Twitter/X alongside a two-minute video featuring clips from the aforementioned channels directing abuse at Stenberg, ending with the message that “hate should not be a career path”.

YouTube responded to the posts later on Wednesday, writing it “definitely [wants] our community to help flag inappropriate content to ensure YouTube is a safe place for everyone” and encouraging Katie of Rewriting Ripley to report the content in question.

Once Rewriting Ripley confirmed a report had been lodged, YouTube replied to state it will “do our best to take action quickly and fairly”.

Except, they didn’t take action, and instead followed-up a day later and said: “Just heard back and confirmed that this content is not violative and will remain up. We totally understand you may not agree with this decision, but we reviewed this video very carefully against our policies.”

Under YouTube’s policy on hate speech, violative content includes videos which contain “the use of racial, religious, or other slurs and stereotypes that incite or promote hatred based on protected group status” and “claim that individuals or groups are physically or mentally inferior, deficient, or diseased based on their protected group status”.

Attributes listed by YouTube as indicating a “protected group status” include race, ethnicity, caste, disability, sex/gender and sexual orientation.

Meanwhile, its harassment and cyberbullying policies state the platform does not allow “content that targets someone with prolonged insults or slurs based on their physical traits or protected group status”.

YouTube’s “cowardice” and “lack of concern” has since been slammed by supporters of Stenberg and Star Wars, with many emphasising exactly what the decision that the content is not “violative” means in practice.

Others pointed out the initial open letter was calling for the demonetisation of content, as opposed to its removal.

Indy100 has approached YouTube for further comment.

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