When we heard the story of Dr. Steve Turley and his YouTube channel, we knew it was one our readers needed to hear as well. Censorship is very real, and Dr. Steve’s story is just one of many. Check this out and let us know what you think. ~The True Trend News Team.
YouTube recently cancelled one of the most powerful conservative voices in America – but they’re fighting back with a bold new plan to beat Big Tech.
When Donald Trump announced that he would seek the office of the presidency in 2015, media pundits and activists from both sides of the aisle mocked his vision for America. Among the academics and thinkers who disagreed was Dr. Steve Turley – an American New Testament scholar and theology teacher who argued that Donald Trump was helping usher in a new age of national populism in the United States.
Turley’s influence on the conservative political and media landscape ever since has been huge, having helped Americans from all walks of life understand the dynamics at play, not just in the Trump White House but within the media industry that was dedicated to destroying him.
And just as Big Tech, the media, and the government came after Trump, they’re now coming after Dr. Steve Turley, too. After seven successful years on YouTube, releasing multiple episodes of the hugely popular Turley Talks show every single day, the Google-owned platform is no longer pulling any punches — and they cost him big in the process.
How Turley Was Robbed of $1.4 Million
When Turley Talks launched in 2016, they knew they were onto something big. What they didn’t realize at the time is that their community would grow so huge, so diverse, and so powerful that YouTube would one day attempt to destroy them. They built an audience of over 1.2 million subscribers, and hundreds of thousands more on Twitter and Rumble. People love their content so much that they even ranked as one of the top 50 political podcasts in the world.
Despite Dr. Steve’s popularity, however, YouTube informed their team on Black Friday, 2023, that they were “improperly” using content and that their entire channel had been demonetized as a result. The news meant that Turley Talks could no longer withdraw revenue generated by the advertisements on their daily videos. The warning from YouTube was vague, too, providing little to no information about the allegedly “improper” content, or why they believed it was being used improperly. It stunk of malfeasance – but sadly, what YouTube did to them is, technically, completely legal.
After cutting off their revenue, YouTube gave them an opportunity to appeal – but only after 90 days had passed.
After some time went by, with Dr. Steve continuing his daily video output despite demonetization, YouTube finally demanded that they delete a number of YouTube Shorts – the shorter video clips they share that appear on a TikTok-like feed on the YouTube app. After they deleted the content as instructed, and after the 90 days were up, they finally filed their appeal in February. After an additional thirty days – now the end of March – Turley Talks was informed that YouTube would not lift the ban.
YouTube said that they knew better than our millions of viewers, and confirmed that their demonetization was permanent.
The platform erroneously claimed that their content, which focuses on the rebuilding of America’s Christian foundations and the empowerment of the American people through politics, was “harmful.”
That’s right – a Big Tech company, which regularly promotes harmful content to young Americans, wanted them to believe that the Christian and populist themes of their content were harming their loyal viewers.
Sure, Turley Talks is still on YouTube. Why? Because in 2024, they were projected to generate $1.4 million in advertising revenue from YouTube alone. That’s a lot of money – and it’s what keeps Turley Talks ticking. It’s a lot of money to YouTube, too. When Turley Talks was monetized, YouTube took a whopping 55% of their ad revenue. Now, if YouTube chooses to air ads on their videos, they’ll take 100%.
That’s millions of dollars per year generated by brave American conservatives going straight into the pockets of Big Tech, and not to the creators of the show they watch!
As with other big accounts on the platform, advertising revenue allows the Turley Talks team to continually improve their content, to pay our team, and to keep up with the demanding schedule they set for themselves.
The Turley Talks Team is Fighting Back
The Turlely Talks team has decided that YouTube’s assault on free speech will not be their death knell. Turley Talks will not just sit idly by while Big Tech companies, consumed by their own obsession with ultra-progressive ideas that are harmful to the American project, try to silence them.
Not only will they continue to push their content on YouTube for as long as the platform allows, but they’re building an exciting new platform that no one else can easily stop.
We’re launching the brand new Turley Talks App – a free-speech video platform featuring all of Dr. Steve’s content. It’s everything good about YouTube, and then some. They’ll be offering public and exclusive content, hosting live chats, and more. Sounds like it’s going to be really fun.
Thank you to our friends at Turley Talks for sharing their story.
