Top YouTube creator James Charles demonetised temporarily amid allegations he sexted minors

YouTube has confirmed James Charles has been suspended from the platform's partner programme. Photo / James Charles / YouTube

YouTube has temporarily halted payment to one of its top YouTuber creators.

Business Insider reports James Charles, who posts beauty and lifestyle content on the video platform, has been temporarily demonetised and suspended from the partner programme, meaning he will not receive advertising revenue from his content.

It comes after more than 15 men and boys have come forward with allegations against Charles, whose channel has more than 25.5 million subscribers.

The beauty mogul has been accused of soliciting nude photos from minors and sending explicit images himself. YouTube did not say how long his suspension will last.

The YouTuber directly responded to allegations in a video titled "holding myself accountable". In the video, he addressed two allegations against him involving 16-year-old boys and claimed the two individuals lied about their ages and the interactions shouldn't have happened.

YouTube told Business Insider he was suspended under the "creator responsibility policy", a policy which has previously been applied to other top content creators Shane Dawson and David Dobrik. Both creators were involved in separate controversies involving their content.

pic.twitter.com/gZ7HrTXaK1

— James Charles (@jamescharles) April 17, 2021

Charles' main brand deal with cosmetics brand Morphe has been axed amid the controversy after some users called for a boycott. He wrote he and the company had "mutually agreed" to end the partnership, which included a collection of products Charles helped create.

"In my most recent video, I spoke about and took accountability for my part I had with a few individuals who told me they were over the age of 18," Charles wrote in a statement.

"Since posting that video, many other people have come forward with a series of misleading stories and false allegations.

"These stories have caused many of my long-term partners to receive considerable negative feedback, one of them being Morphe."

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