YouTube commenter arrested after allegedly posting threat to ‘shoot and skin’ Black preschoolers

North Carolina man is facing federal charges over a comment posted online in which he allegedly threatened to “shoot up a black pre-school,” after which the victims would be “skinned,” according to an FBI probable cause affidavit reviewed by The Independent.

Zachary Charles Newell, 25, was arrested Monday on one count of making an interstate threat to kidnap or injure.

On Sunday, a cybercrime team at Google flagged a disturbingly violent YouTube comment to the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center, the affidavit states. It says the comment had been uploaded to the video-sharing site four days prior, at 10:37 a.m. local time, by a user with the screenname “CommentatorsHateMe.”

Posted beneath a video by YouTuber “Andrew Esquire,” a Florida lawyer whose real name is Andrew Clifford d’Adesky, CommentatorsHateMe wrote, “I’m gonna shoot up a black pre-school. 20 black babies will be shot and then skinned like the animals they are,” the affidavit goes on.

In the video, d’Adesky was discussing a reported Los Angeles police investigation into Raja Jackson, an MMA fighter who apparently went off-script while making an appearance in a professional wrestling match and put his opponent in the hospital with severe injuries.

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YouTube Faces Backlash for Quietly Using AI to Alter Shorts Without Creator Consent

Some YouTube creators are calling foul after learning the platform has been quietly using AI to modify their Shorts without notification or approval.

For months, users have noticed odd visual quirks in some Shorts, such as skin that looks overly airbrushed, clothes appearing sharper than expected, or facial features slightly distorted.

The alterations are subtle enough to go unnoticed in isolation, but side-by-side comparisons have revealed inconsistencies that many say make their videos feel unnatural or artificial.

Musician and creator Rhett Shull spotlighted the issue in a video that has drawn over 700,000 views. Comparing his uploads across platforms, he pointed out that YouTube had seemingly softened and retouched his Shorts without permission.

“I did not consent to this,” said Shull. “Replacing or enhancing my work with some AI upscaling system not only erodes trust with the audience, but it also erodes my trust in YouTube.”

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Australia Bans YouTube for Children Under 16

The government of Australia has reversed its decision to grant YouTube an exemption from its sweeping ban on social media for children under 16. YouTube’s parent company, Google, is threatening legal action, but Australian officials vowed to push ahead with the ban.

“We can’t control the ocean, but we can police the sharks, and that is why we will not be intimidated by legal threats when this is a genuine fight for the wellbeing of Australian kids,” Communications Minister Anika Wells said when Google threatened to sue.

Australia announced its “world-leading” plan to bar children from using social media in November 2024. Despite resistance from Internet freedom advocates, and difficult questions about precisely how such a ban could be implemented, the relevant legislation was quickly passed, and the ban is set to take effect in December 2025.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave a press conference on Wednesday in which he pledged to promote Australia’s social media ban to other countries at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

“I know from the discussions I have had with other leaders that they are looking at this and they are considering what impact social media is having on young people in their respective nations, it is a common experience,” Albanese said, appearing with the parents of children who were bullied to death on social media.

“We don’t do this easily. What we do, though, is respond to something that is needed here,” he said.

YouTube was granted an exemption from the ban when it was passed by Parliament in November, for several reasons. One was that YouTube was viewed as an important source of information for teens, so even though it carried potentially harmful content, the good was thought to outweigh the bad.

LGBTQ groups insisted YouTube was an important resource for gay and lesbian children, while public health groups said they used the platform to distribute important information to young people. Australian parents found YouTube less alarming that competing platforms like TikTok. YouTube also featured less direct interaction between users than most of the social media platforms that troubled Australian regulators.

A final objection to banning YouTube was that logging into the service is not required – visitors can access the vast majority of the platform’s content as “guests.” This meant there was no practical way to hold YouTube accountable for policing the age of its users.

Naturally, many of the platforms that were targeted by Australia’s social media ban resented the exemption granted to YouTube. These complaints might have had some bearing on the government’s decision to cancel YouTube’s exemption.

According to Australia’s ABC News, YouTube was added to the social media ban at the request of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, who wrote a letter to Wells asking for YouTube’s exemption to be rescinded. Inman Grant said her recommendation was based on a survey of 2,600 children that found nearly 40 percent of them had been exposed to “harmful content” while using YouTube.

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YouTube Eliminates Thousands of Chinese and Russian Propaganda Channels

Google said on Monday it has taken down almost 11,000 channels on YouTube for spreading propaganda. It allegedly linked 7,700 of them to China, and another 2,000 to Russia.

Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said the Chinese YouTube channels distributed content in English and Mandarin that promoted China’s interests, glorified dictator Xi Jinping, and criticized America’s positions on international affairs. Some of the Chinese channels were also highly critical of the Philippines, which is engaged in maritime territorial disputes with China.

The Russian channels allegedly employed various languages to criticize Western governments, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and Ukraine. Some of the Russian channels also spread information supportive of China and Iran.

TAG’s latest quarterly report also announced the termination of YouTube influence channels linked to Turkey, Romania, Iran, Ghana, Azerbaijan, and Israel.

The 43 channels linked to Turkey were “sharing content in Turkish that was supportive of the Turkish Victory Party.”

The Victory Party, known by its Turkish acronym ZP, is a nationalist party strongly critical of the Turkish government for taking in large numbers of refugees from Syria. It also opposes the government’s efforts to negotiate with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a violent separatist organization.

ZP leader Umit Ozdag was arrested in January for allegedly insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and “inciting hatred against migrants.”

TAG said the 12 terminated Romanian channels were “sharing content in Romanian that was supportive of a specific Romanian political party,” but did not name the party.

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Government REFUSES to release ‘eSafety’ data behind YouTube kids ban

Labor Communications Minister Anika Wells has refused to release the research that underpins the eSafety Commissioner’s push to ban 15-year-olds from using YouTube.

The contentious recommendation, made by eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, has sparked widespread concern among stakeholders and the public. Yet Wells has declined to release the data informing the advice, citing the regulator’s preference to delay publication.

Sky News reports that the eSafety regulator has repeatedly blocked its attempts to access the full research, instead opting to “drip feed” select findings to the public over several months. This is despite the Albanese government expected to make a final decision in just weeks.

A spokesperson for Wells said: “The minister is taking time to consider the eSafety Commissioner’s advice. The minister has been fully briefed by the eSafety Commissioner including the research methodology behind her advice.”

However, the Commissioner’s own “Keeping Kids Safe Online: Methodology” report reveals several weaknesses in the data. The survey relied entirely on self-reported responses taken at one point in time and used “non-probability-based sampling” from online panels, described in the report as “convenience samples”.

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YouTuber Uncovers “Soros Soldier” Behind NYC Color Revolution Operation

Initial signs suggest a shift in federal posture toward increased scrutiny of rogue non-governmental organizations (NGOs) potentially engaged in domestic color revolution operations aimed at sowing chaos and destruction. These NGOs are reportedly backed by a mix of left-leaning (and often anti-American) high-net-worth individuals, U.S. taxpayer funds, corporate donations, and potentially hostile foreign actors.

Shortly after the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles last month, FBI Director Kash Patel stated, “The FBI is investigating any and all monetary connections responsible for these riots.” 

Patel’s comments are merely a hint that federal investigations are intensifying on a network of leftist NGOs. Some of these NGOs are assessed to be deeply aligned with Marxists and are allegedly advocating for the dismantling of capitalism through color revolution operations aimed at collapsing the system as part of a broader ideological realignment—a so-called “great reset” oriented toward socialism and, ultimately, digital communism.

Independent researcher and content creator Nate Friedman (27, New York-based) has released a series of videos on X detailing the command and control structures of these dark-money-funded NGOs operating in New York City. Some of these NGOs are aligned with Marxism, potentially receiving overseas funding. His findings suggest these organizations are engaged in destabilization operations.

In a separate video, Friedman uncovered what he called “another Soros soldier.” 

Friedman appeared on Newsmax to discuss his alarming findings. The segment focused on the financial and ideological backers of these organizations.

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South Korean YouTube and “X” aggressively block access to alternative views on South Korean Election

While “X” has been largely liberated by Elon Musk inside the United States and Mark Zuckerberg has lifted his totalitarian thumb on YouTube inside of America a bit, South Korean variants have missed the memo on this topic.  The “Fact Checkers” and Global Elite Dis-Information cult is alive and well in South Korea – largely funded and directed by the Chinese Communist Party.

On June 24, 2025, a Press Conference was held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. while tens of thousands of South Koreans gathered in Seoul and other locations in South Korea at midnight Korea Standard Time to publicly watch the simulcast.

South Korean YouTube and “X” have blocked and removed replays of this Press Conference, while key persons like rising star and former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has had his “X” account shut down.

Even the display of South Korea’s flag – well known throughout the world is being censored.  Just like the American Democrat Party, the South Korean Democrat Party despises their own National Flag.

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CBC Brags About Shutting Down Popular Political Clips YouTube Channel

A rising Canadian YouTube channel that had been pulling major traction has suddenly been banned following an aggressive report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which labeled the channel a “content farm” and reached out to YouTube directly. Not long after, the channel was gone.

“It’s just one example of what experts refer to as the ‘content’ or “engagement” farming phenomenon, in which individuals or organizations tailor their content to tap into the algorithm of the platform and boost their popularity,” the CBC explained in an article, as if this isn’t something that most YouTubers do.

Real Talk Politiks, the creator behind the now-deleted account, took to X on Sunday to reveal what happened, pointing the finger at government-aligned media and tech collusion.

“CBC, Canada’s state-funded media just got YouTube to terminate my channel — not for breaking rules, but for having the wrong political views,” the post read.

Despite operating without strikes, policy violations, or deceptive content flags, the channel was wiped.

What sparked the removal, according to CBC’s own report, was an AI-generated video of Ronald Reagan that allegedly lacked a clear label; something that might typically warrant a correction or warning, not a digital purge.

The CBC leaned into the narrative, bragging about its work in getting the channel shut down, and published a YouTube video titled “How we shut down one of Canada’s biggest news ‘content farms’.”

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“Completely Insane”: Wired Posts DIY Video For Mangione’s Ghost Gun

YouTube’s content rules apparently don’t apply to corporate media darlings. 

Case in pointWired (Publisher: Condé Nast) recently published a video walking viewers through the exact process of building a copycat version of the untraceable 9mm “ghost gun” allegedly used in the UnitedHealth CEO shooting by Lugi Mangione. 

So, armed with a shopping list and a credit card, we ordered everything we needed. A 3D printer, plastic filaments, and household products like epoxy were all just a few clicks away on sites like Lowe’s or Amazon. And the more specialized components were available on sites that sell gun parts, just not the guns themselves,” Wired’s Andy Greenberg explained to viewers in the video. 

Greenberg continued, “A few days later, every ingredient I needed to make Mangione’s gun arrived in the mail for the grand total of $1,144.67 plus shipping. And that includes the price of the 3D printer. This is like Christmas Day. This looks like a slide, very much like an obvious gun part. Kind of crazy that you can just order this.” 

The video then spent five minutes showing viewers the printing and assembly processes. He outsourced the assembly of the pistol to YouTube Print Shoot Repeat. 

Meanwhile, YouTube explicitly prohibits content that provides instructions on manufacturing firearms, including ghost guns

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