Beauty influencer James Charles' ability to make money from YouTube has been restricted by the online video platform after being accused of sexual misconduct.
Charles has been accused of grooming and sexting underage boys and in response, YouTube announced that the makeup vlogger's channel would be "demonetized."
"We can confirm that we have applied our Creator Responsibility Policy and temporarily removed James Charles from the YouTube partner program," the company said in a statement to The Guardian.
According to the policy, YouTube can take action to protect the community from creators whose behaviour could be deemed harmful to other users. This applies both on and off the platform and includes the intention to cause "malicious harm to others" via violent, cruel, fraudulent, or deceptive behaviour.
The announcement comes days after it emerged that the beauty brand Morphe had parted ways with Charles after three years.
"In light of the recent allegations against James Charles, Morphe and James have agreed to end our business relationship and wind down sales of the Morphe X James Charles product offering," the company said in a statement posted on Twitter.
In his own statement, Charles said that the allegations against him had caused many brands he had partnered up with over the years to receive "considerable negative feedback." Morphe was one such company and after reaching out to them, Charles said they "mutually" decided to cease the partnership.
"I've loved every moment working together, and am beyond grateful for what we've created together," he said, adding that he was "continuing to take time away to learn, grow, and listen" and was looking forward to "coming back one day in the future as a better version of myself."
Earlier this month Charles posted a video on YouTube apologizing to those who were "affected" by his actions.
In the video, Charles said he owed a "massive apology to anybody that I've hurt or anybody that I've made uncomfortable with my actions," adding that the situation was "really embarrassing." He went on to say that he fully understood his actions and how they were wrong.
Charles then addressed two instances in which underage boys came forth, saying he sent them inappropriate messages on social media.
Charles said he asked the two boys how old they were and, when he found out they were 16, later blocked them. Since then, several other boys have made similar accusations but Charles insisted they had lied to him about their age. He did however admit he needed to take accountability.
"As I did more research on these topics and self-reflected, I realized that the receipts and the screenshots and the specific details of the interaction really don’t matter because I f***ed up, and I needed to take accountability for my actions and, most importantly, apologize to the people who were affected by them," he said in the video, explaining that the conversations should never have happened.
"To the guys involved in the situation, I want to say I’m sorry," he apologized. "I’m sorry that I added you, I’m sorry that I flirted with you, and I’m really sorry that I made you uncomfortable."
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Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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