News (World)

YouTube suspended a queer Nigerian film distributor’s channel. Now they’re fighting back.

LGBTQ+ relationships are illegal in Nigeria, which makes queer-inclusive film all the more important.
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A scene from Omeleme TV's 'Pieces of Love.'
A scene from Omeleme TV's 'Pieces of Love.' Photo: YouTube screenshot

A Nigerian distributor of independent gay romance films is fighting to get its YouTube channel back.

Earlier this month, Omeleme TV launched an online petition aimed at getting YouTube to reinstate its original account after the streaming platform removed its channel, claiming Omeleme TV had violated its policy “on spam, deceptive practices and scams.”

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But in its petition, Omeleme TV argued it has never violated YouTube’s policies and has “always complied with their rules and regulations accordingly.”

An Omeleme TV spokesperson, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Washington Blade that YouTube has not indicated “the main issue” that resulted in its deplatforming.

In its petition, Omeleme TV notes that “same-sex love is often denied and shrouded in taboo” in Nigeria, where homosexuality is illegal and same-sex relationships are punishable by up to 14 years in prison under the country’s Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act. “Deleting our YouTube page is basically shutting [out] the voice of the queer folks in the region,” the petition states.

As the Washington Blade notes, Omeleme TV launched its YouTube channel last September. At its peak, the channel reportedly had over 5,000 subscribers and had been monetized.

Its first film, Nearly All Men, directed by Akpos Otubuere, was initially posted in October 2023. By November 4, 2023, the film had garnered 5,500 views according to a post on the channel’s official Instagram account. This past June, the channel premiered its second film, Pieces of Love, which received over 500,000 views in 24 hours, according to a June 22 Instagram post. A screenshot posted on August 2 appears to show that the film had reached 101,000 views.

The following day, nearly 10 months after Nearly All Men went live on YouTube, a post on Omeleme TV’s Instagram page stated that the channel’s operators had chosen to remove the film after the platform “flagged a particular score.”

The channel’s spokesperson told the Washington Blade that Omeleme TV faced an initial copyright claim over a song in one of its films. In the process of settling the copyright issue, they discovered that Nearly All Men had not, in fact, been monetized. According to the Blade, the channel pulled the film and reuploaded it with a new original song.

It’s unclear when this version of the film was posted or how long it remained on YouTube, but on August 15, a post on the channel’s Instagram stated that “after back and forth with YouTube” over the platform’s policies on adult content, Nearly All Men would be reposted the following day, “BUT, the 18+ scenes in the movie will be up soonest in the next few days [sic].”

Omeleme TV’s spokesperson told The Washington Blade that YouTube flagged the film again on August 18. “This time they claimed it is not ad friendly, but it does not affect the channel and that we can only earn and be viewed by premium subscribers,” they said.   

On September 3, Omeleme TV posted another update on Instagram, indicating that Nearly All Men had been flagged several times. Rather than edit scenes out of the film, Omeleme TV announced that Nearly All Men would return to its channel as a “premium” members-only video due to scenes containing nudity.

“We are sincerely sorry that it’s not open to everyone,” the channel wrote in another September 3 post. “Like we said earlier YouTube is strict on nudity and editing out those scenes entirely from the film jeopardizes the aim/purpose of the entire film.”

A September 6 post announced that the film was once again live for premium subscribers.

Two days later, on September 8, Omeleme TV reported via their Instagram account that their channel had been removed from YouTube. A screenshot posted on their @nearlyallmen X account indicates that the platform removed the channel for allegedly violating its policy “on spam, deceptive practices and scams.”

In a September 10 response to the @nearlyallmen X account, @TeamYouTube noted that Omeleme TV had “already appealed & received an email outlining the final decision” not to reinstate the channel.  

“We know it wasn’t the outcome you were hoping for, but there’s nothing more we can do on our end as these decisions are made very carefully,” the @TeamYouTube account wrote.

The Omeleme TV spokesperson told the Washington Blade that YouTube “did not in any way specify the actual violation or spam.” They also noted that YouTube had never once given the channel a “strike.” The platform issues “strikes” to channels for a second violation of its policies following an initial warning for a first violation.

Under its “Community Guidelines strike basics,” the platform does note that it “may remove content for reasons other than Community Guidelines violations. For example, a first-party privacy complaint or a court order. In these cases, your channel won’t get a strike.” It also notes that in certain instances “a single case of severe abuse will result in channel termination without warning.”

Omeleme TV has since launched a new YouTube channel, though it has only uploaded Pieces of Love and the trailer for Nearly All Men so far. And with only 98 subscribers, its reach has been drastically reduced and falls far short of the 1,000 subscribers required before it can monetize its content.

And it continues to fight to have its original channel restored. In its petition, which 170 signatures toward its 200 goal, Omeleme TV says that it plays a crucial role in normalizing same-sex relationships, “providing visibility and affirmation for LGBTQ+ individuals, both young and old,” in Nigeria.

“YouTube remains our major source for distribution of these films to queer folks all over the world,” the channel’s spokesperson told the Blade. They continue to believe that YouTube has somehow made a mistake, that the platform, “being a safe space for filmmakers all over the world, will do the right thing by restoring our channel for their esteemed viewers.”

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