YouTube shooter’s family: She ‘hated’ the company

The woman accused of shooting three people at YouTube’s California headquarters on Tuesday before killing herself “hated” the company, according to family members, and had a long-standing grudge against the platform’s content policies.

The Associated Press reports that Nasim Aghdam did not specifically target the three YouTube staffers whom she reportedly injured with a handgun in the building’s courtyard Tuesday afternoon, contradicting earlier media reports.

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Instead, a personal website registered under Aghdam’s name revealed furious messages in response to Aghdam’s videos apparently being removed or demonetized from the website. YouTube’s content policy only allows for certain types of videos to be eligible for ad revenue, an issue that has caused friction with some content creators in the past.

“Youtube filtered my channels to keep them from getting views!” reads a message on Aghdam’s website, which added: “There is no equal growth opportunity on YOUTUBE or any other video sharing site, your channel will grow if they want to!!!!!”

Aghdam’s father, Ismail Aghdam, told The Mercury News that his daughter “hated” the company and was specifically angry over demonetized videos.

Aghdam’s victims included two women and one man, all in their 20s and 30s. One victim, a 36-year-old male, remains in critical condition.

A company spokesman said that YouTube is a community and that Tuesday’s attack was felt by all its members.

“Today it feels like the entire community of YouTube, all of the employees, were victims of this crime,” said Chris Dale in a statement to AP.