Podcaster banned from YouTube after defending a legal Nazi party

YouTube has banned one of Brazil’s most influential podcasters from its platform. Bruno “Monark” Aiub raised controversy last week after defending the right of Nazis to legally form their own party and enter electoral politics — adding that “anti-Jewish people have the right to be anti-Jewish.”

The ban was announced by Monark himself, by way of his Twitter account.

The comments which sparked Monark’s deplatforming came during an episode of the Flow podcast — one of Brazil’s biggest. In a debate about freedom of speech, the podcaster argued that there should be a complete lack of regulation, permitting conduct that is currently considered a crime in Brazil, such as condoning Nazism.

Due to the intense backlash, the company behind Flow said Monark would step down from his podcasting duties and would no longer be one of its controllers. Now, after YouTube’s decision, he is barred from creating or monetizing channels of his own.

The podcaster complained of “suffering political persecution,” adding that the decision from YouTube “prevents [him] from moving on with [his] life.” Investigations into said infractions have become more common in recent years. According to data from the Federal Police, there were more probes into condoning Nazism in 2019 and 2020 than there were in the previous 15 years combined.

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