Last week, the Department of Justice indicted two Russians for secretly funneling money to American right-wing video personalities. Shortly after, YouTube cracked down on the entity behind the scheme, Tenet Media, deleting its channel and four others run by owner Lauren Chen.
The next day, Tayler Hansen, a reporter and former employee of Tenet, announced in a post on X that he had been permanently banned from YouTube.
“Andddd I just got permanently banned from YouTube,” Hansen wrote in a Sept. 6 X post that garnered over 2.4 million views.
The text in the notice said a channel of his had been removed, not that he’d been permanently banned.
“This is 100% targeted and no explanation has been given despite the DOJ Indictment explicitly stating that show hosts and reporters were VICTIMS if the allegations turn out to be true,” Hansen added in a follow-up post.
In the indictment, the DOJ noted that the personalities Tenet paid—Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, Hansen, and others—were unaware of the scheme.
In their statements, they all dubbed themselves victims of the plot.
But it turns out that Hansen closed his own YouTube account, casting himself again as a victim, this time of corporate censorship, a well-established pattern for right-wing actors
In the process, Hansen garnered sympathy and support for his new channel on Rumble, the far-right video platform.
Since his protestations about big tech overreach, he’s added almost 1,500 followers.
But big tech didn’t overreach, according to them.
When users try to view his old YouTube videos, they’re hit with a message that belies his grousing.
“The video is no longer available because the uploader has closed their account,” the page reads. This text is distinct from the one that appears on the videos from the terminated Tenet Media channel that says: “This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.”
After the Daily Dot reached out to YouTube to inquire about this discrepancy, a YouTube spokesperson said that Hansen closed his personal account and that it had not been banned.
“The TaylerUSA channel was deleted by its owner on September 6th,” a YouTube spokesperson wrote in an email that also linked to a public response to Hansen on X which was sent after the Daily Dot inquired about the discrepancy.
In the post, YouTube clarified the channel termination notice Hansen hyped.
“Hi there, wanted to jump in and clarify—the screenshot you shared shows a notice we sent on Sept 5 after the termination of Tenet Media & associated channels, including a Tayler Hansen channel w/ 0 uploads or subscribers,” the post from TeamYouTube reads. “It looks like a separate channel, TaylerUSA, was deleted by its owner on Sept 6.”
So while YouTube banned a Tenet Media-affiliated channel that Hansen didn’t use, the one Hansen actually posted was axed by him, YouTube said.
Nevertheless, Hansen used the opportunity to further his own narrative about the matter.
After the charges exploded in the news, Hansen described them as a “big smear job against an uncensored, unapologetic, and America first media company” that is a part of “malicious persecution by the Government.”
But it should come as no surprise to those familiar with Hansen’s work that the Texas resident cast doubt on the DOJ’s depiction of Tenet.
His rise to prominence began when he attended the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and filmed the moment that a Capitol Police officer shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was attempting to climb through the broken window of a door. Since then, Hansen has defended Jan. 6 insurrectionists, said “every member of the January 6th Committee belongs in prison,” and described the law enforcement response to the attempted insurrection as “a modern-day Reichstag Fire for the Establishment”—a reference to the 1933 burning of the German parliament building that paved the way for Nazi dictatorship.
Hansen has also drawn attention for reports alleging child abuse at drag shows and describing the LGBTQ community as “groomers.” According to the Texas Tribune, Hansen’s work has often prompted harassment of drag events and local businesses, including a drag brunch that drew white supremacists and a cascade of threats online.
In a statement to the Daily Dot after publication, Hansen said that YouTube’s version of events was false.
“I am working with [YouTube] to figure out what is happening,” claiming he did not remove his own channel.
Hansen said he did not “personally delete anything.”
“I received an email stating that I was permanently banned and could never operate a [YouTube] account again. Upon attempting to log in afterwards my account no longer existed. The idea that I deleted my own channel is laughable from an independent standpoint, [YouTube] is far better for views and monetization than Rumble and I already had a curated audience on my channel. Now I have to restart from scratch on a platform that is significantly harder to grow on,” he added.
Hansen did not provide any additional screenshots to the Daily Dot to corroborate his version of events. YouTube has not responded to further inquiries about the matter.
Other YouTube channels for other former Tenet personalities have not been removed by this site.
This post has been updated with comment from Hansen.
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