Since its founding in 2005, YouTube has become the world’s soapbox, giving anyone with a webcam a chance to be heard. Now advertisers are saying they have heard enough.

Since The Times of London reported in March that ads for major brands appeared alongside videos produced by violent extremists, multinational companies such as Coca-Cola, Walmart, Verizon, and Nestle pulled ads from YouTube. Others, such as Toyota, have curtailed their spending, according to Barron’s. Google’s stock took an initial hit in March but quickly promised companies it would tighten rules for which videos could feature advertising. The company’s bottom line has recovered—and then some. But the wallets of many individual YouTubers who found their videos suddenly labeled not “advertiser-friendly” have not.

On June 1, YouTube released new guidelines for advertiser-friendly content that sound distinctly big brother–esque. They prohibit sexually explicit, violent, and drug-related content, but also bar “controversial or sensitive subjects and events, including subjects related to war, political conflicts, natural disasters, and tragedies, even if graphic imagery is not shown.” Those kinds of videos can still be posted on YouTube, but their creators won’t be eligible for ad revenue.

Since March, YouTubers complained on the company’s Creators Blog that the rules are unfair.

“I made videos about living with cancer. They are upbeat videos, not depressing, yet YouTube demonetized ALL my videos. And yet, I’ve seen ads for chemotherapy drugs,” commented user Ann Silberman.

While YouTube creators have no inherent right to make money on their content, look for discrimination lawsuits in the near future against the company, which is still struggling to separate the wheat from the chaff. Just this week, Britain’s political parties pulled election ads from the site after the Times busted YouTube for running the ads next to Islamic extremist videos.

Gal Gadot arrives at the world premiere of Wonder Woman in Los Angeles. Associated Press/Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision

Archenemies

Wonder Woman has found new opponents in the Arab world because of star Gal Gadot’s Israeli heritage. Gadot served in the Israeli Defense Forces and in 2014 expressed support on Facebook for Israel’s bombing in Gaza. Lebanon has banned the film, an Algerian film festival refused to show it, Tunisia has suspended its release, and some Jordanians are calling for a boycott. The Tunisian government blamed the delayed release on a clerical error, but the decision followed a lawsuit filed by the Tunisian Association of Young Lawyers, which called Gadot a “champion Zionist.”

“If we watch the movie, this means we will support this Israeli actor,” Mohammad Ali, part of the online campaign to boycott the movie in Jordan, told Chinese news service Xinhua. “I am against this movie and I call for banning it in Jordan as well as in the rest of the Arab world.”

Wonder Woman made $100 million in its opening weekend, the most ever for any female-directed movie, according to Box Office Mojo. —L.L.

Gal Gadot arrives at the world premiere of Wonder Woman in Los Angeles. Associated Press/Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision

Stunted pop princess

Ariana Grande’s benefit concert for Manchester terror victims last weekend raised more than $3 million for the British Red Cross, and she continues to rake in funds for the organization from the sales of charity singles. This week, she released the soulful rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” that she sang at the end of the concert. The song, along with her recent release of “Beauty and the Beast” (a duet with John Legend), captures the young singer’s rare vocal talent in a way her typical sleazy pop numbers don’t. Grande’s voice could define this generation of music if she would step out of Britney Spears’ shadow and simply sing. —L.L.

Bob Dylan: Don’t think too hard about a song’s meaning

With just days to spare, Bob Dylan delivered the speech required to claim the reward money for his Nobel Prize in Literature. (The speech was due by June 10; he recorded it June 4.) In a long, rambling oration, Dylan talked about how three works of literature influenced his music: Moby Dick, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Homer’s Odyssey. Dylan revealed much about his worldview, the basic tenet of which seems to be that nothing really matters. “If a song moves you, that’s all that’s important,” he said. “I don’t have to know what a song means. I’ve written all kinds of things into my songs. And I’m not going to worry about it—what it all means.” —L.L.

Cultural moment

This week’s “Culture Friday” segment on The World and Everything in It features the final installment of questions World Journalism Institute students asked John Stonestreet, president of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. They talk about natural law, engaging non-Christians, and the challenges facing youth today. —L.L.