Last week, conservative video creator and former Tenet Media reporter Tayler Hansen cried foul after claiming YouTube permanently banned his channel. But as the smoke clears, the situation appears to be less about censorship and more about Hansen pulling a stunt to drum up sympathy—and viewers—for his new channel on Rumble.

On September 6, Hansen took to X with a dramatic declaration: “Andddd I just got permanently banned from YouTube.” This post, brimming with outrage, quickly went viral, amassing over 2.4 million views. Hansen, of course, made sure to couch his plight in the grand narrative of victimhood so beloved by many on the far-right, describing it as part of an orchestrated attack on free speech by Big Tech.

But here’s where things start to go off-script.

Despite his claims of being unjustly banned, Hansen left out one glaring detail: He shut down his YouTube channel himself. When the Daily Dot reached out to YouTube to clarify Hansen’s claims, the platform’s spokesperson confirmed that his TaylerUSA channel was deleted on September 6—by none other than Hansen himself.

In an email to the Daily Dot, YouTube stated, “The TaylerUSA channel was deleted by its owner on September 6th.” The spokesperson also linked to a public response from Team YouTube posted on X, which cleared up the confusion for those left scratching their heads over Hansen’s narrative.

A tale of two channels

So, what was Hansen referring to? As it turns out, Hansen had two YouTube channels. One, tied to Tenet Media, had zero uploads and zero subscribers, and was swept up in a broader crackdown on the Russian-funded propaganda operation Tenet Media, which had violated U.S. laws by covertly funneling foreign money to right-wing content creators.

This Tenet-affiliated account was, indeed, terminated by YouTube—but, to reiterate, Hansen had never posted to it.

Yet, when Hansen shared the screenshot of YouTube’s notification about the terminated account, he conveniently left out the part about it being a completely dormant account. Instead, he hyped it up as if his main channel had been unjustly obliterated by YouTube’s censorship overlords.

YouTube quickly responded: “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,” read the post from TeamYouTube. “It looks like a separate channel, TaylerUSA, was deleted by its owner on Sept 6.”

Playing the victim

So, what’s the real story here? Well, it seems Hansen’s channel deletion was a voluntary, strategic move—one designed to cash in on a recurring theme in the right-wing media world: victimhood. After shutting down his own YouTube account, Hansen turned to Rumble, a far-right alternative platform, claiming YouTube had blacklisted him. He racked up 1,500 new followers on Rumble, feeding off the same grievance politics that have propelled numerous right-wing figures to fame.

Of course, in typical fashion, Hansen continues to insist that YouTube, not he, is the villain in this story. In a statement to the Daily Dot, he denied any wrongdoing, claiming, “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.”

He went on to describe the notion that he would delete his own channel as “laughable from an independent standpoint,” since, as he put it, YouTube is far better for “views and monetization” than Rumble.

The Texas-based “reporter” gained notoriety during the January 6th Capitol insurrection, when he filmed the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt, one of the rioters. Since then, he’s built a reputation as a staunch defender of the insurrectionists, branding the law enforcement response as a “modern-day Reichstag Fire”—a reference to the 1933 event that helped consolidate Nazi power. It’s inflammatory rhetoric like this that has kept Hansen in the right-wing media’s spotlight.

But Hansen’s controversial behavior doesn’t stop at defending insurrectionists. He’s also well-known for spreading harmful narratives about the LGBTQ+ community, labeling them as “groomers” and frequently targeting drag shows. His incendiary claims have led to harassment campaigns against drag events and businesses, and, unsurprisingly, have drawn the attention of hate groups.

The real irony here is that Hansen’s supposed ban from YouTube—a platform he now calls oppressive and anti-free speech—was, in fact, self-imposed. And yet, in a predictable playbook move, Hansen has weaponized this non-incident to bolster his narrative of being a victim of Big Tech. It’s a well-worn tactic among far-right media figures: frame yourself as being persecuted by powerful elites (read: Silicon Valley) while conveniently ignoring the truth.

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