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Tuesday's coverage was brought to you by editors Owen Amos, Marita Moloney and Fiona Nimoni, as well as writers Rachel Russell, Thomas Mackintosh, Krystyna Gajda, Tara Mewawalla and Jacqueline Howard.

You can read the latest story here.

Earlier today, director general Tim Davie explained what the BBC's review into the allegations will entail.

We've been reporting the latest on the Russell Brand allegations since this morning. Let's take a moment to bring you up to speed with today's developments:

• The BBC announced a review of any complaints against Russell Brand. Director general Tim Davie says he wants to release an update on the review within weeks
• Earlier today, YouTube suspended Brand from making money on its platform through adverts due to the allegations made against him. Brand has been accused of rape and sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013, which he denies
• The BBC has also announced it has removed some content from its iPlayer and Sounds apps, episode of QI and a Joe Wicks podcast, which "now falls below public expectations"

Mike Wendling
US disinformation reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Among those defending Russell Brand are conservative commentators including the former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson, who tweeted out Brand’s latest video with the message: “Criticize the drug companies, question the war in Ukraine, and you can be pretty sure this is going to happen.”

The conspiratorial fringes of right-wing politics see a fellow traveller in Brand, who has in recent years become increasingly engrossed in conspiratorial themes around Covid, vaccines, the 9/11 attacks and an array of other topics.

Carlson and others – including X/Twitter owner Elon Musk and GB News presenter Beverly Turner - jumped to Brand’s defence even before the sexual assault allegations were published and broadcast.

Brand has denied all the allegations against him.

Ian Youngs
Entertainment & arts reporter

The BBC and Channel 4 will be scouring their archives to see if any complaints were made about Russell Brand when he was working for them, and if they could and should have been acted upon at the time.

That's the basis of the internal investigations both broadcasters have announced in the wake of the rape and sexual assault allegations against him - which he denies.

Channel 4 has already said it has "carried out extensive document searches and thus far have found no evidence to suggest the alleged incidents were brought to the attention of Channel 4 management at the time".

The BBC's director general has said the corporation will "look at any complaints made about Russell Brand's conduct during his time [he worked there], what was known at the time, what was done - so full transparency, we're digging into anything that we've got there".

That will include looking into a claim from one woman who says she was sexually assaulted by Brand that she was once picked up by his BBC car when she was 16 and he was in his 30s; and another that complaints were made to the boss of Radio 2 about his behaviour in the studio.

Several women have made allegations against Brand, which he denies, as part of the investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches:

• One woman alleges that Brand raped her against a wall in his Los Angeles home. She was treated at a rape crisis centre on the same day. The Times says it has seen medical records to support this
• A second woman alleges that Brand assaulted her in the UK when he was in his early 30s and she was 16 and still at school. She alleges he referred to her as "the child" during an emotionally abusive and controlling relationship
• A third woman claims that Brand sexually assaulted her while she worked with him in Los Angeles, and that he threatened to take legal action if she told anyone else about her allegation
• The fourth woman alleged being sexually assaulted by Brand and him being physically and emotionally abusive towards her
• The Times said on yesterday more women had come forward with claims

Ian Youngs
Entertainment & arts reporter

Image source, Russell Brand/YouTube/PA Media

Russell Brand's millions of social media followers haven't heard directly from the star since before the allegations against him became public at the weekend.

His online Stay Free shows on the Rumble platform are billed as being live on weekdays, starting at 17:00 BST, and are also put on YouTube and elsewhere.

He didn't post one yesterday, and that time has come and gone again today.

His last video remains the one from Friday, when he pre-empted the following day's Channel 4 Dispatches broadcast with a video denying "serious criminal allegations" that were about to be made against him.

In it, he said: "These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I've written about extensively in my books I was very, very promiscuous.

"Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual."

• Friday: Russell Brand posts a two-and-a-half minute video, external to his social media channels denying allegations he described as "serious", but did not go into detail
• Saturday afternoon: The Sunday Times publishes an investigation piece, external, in collaboration with the The Times and Channel 4, into allegations Brand sexually assaulted four women between 2006 and 2013
• Saturday evening: Channel 4 airs its investigation, external into the allegations. At the same time, Brand plays a packed live show in Wembley
• Sunday: Broadcasters including the BBC, Channel 4 and Banijay UK announce internal investigations, and a women's charity terminates partnership with Brand. The Met Police says it is also looking at the allegations
• Monday morning: Brand's talent agency and two book publishers part ways with him. One of Brand's accusers appears on the BBC's Woman's Hour programme
• Monday afternoon: The Met Police announces it has received a report of an alleged sexual assault in 2003 following the media investigations into Brand. The remainder of Brand's live tour is postponed
• Tuesday morning: YouTube says it has suspended Russell Brand's channels from making money from adverts for "violating" its "creator responsibility policy"
• Tuesday afternoon: BBC director general Tim Davie orders a review of Brand's time at the corporation. Both the BBC and Channel 4 say they have removed some of Brand's content

Sophie van Brugen
Culture reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Getting through to big companies like Amazon’s Audible or Apple Podcasts is no easy task - I wanted to find out if they are keeping or removing any Russell Brand interviews, podcasts or audiobooks.

I’ve called and emailed but have so far received no reply. At the time of writing there’s still a wide selection featuring Brand, from episodes on guided meditation to his Football is Nice podcast by Luminary.

The team behind Steven Bartlett’s Diary of A CEO series did however confirm that the episode with Brand recorded in June this year has been deleted from the series.

Ian Youngs
Entertainment & arts reporter

Image source, Reuters

Russell Brand has resigned as a director of two companies he ran with his former managers, according to documents lodged at Companies House.

The papers say Brand resigned today from One Arm Bandit Ltd and Mayfair Film Partnership Ltd, which appear to have been involved in the financing and production of his stand-up films.

The remaining directors of both companies include Brand's former manager John Noel and his son Nik Linnen, who also works for the agency and was reportedly Brand's best man when he married singer Katy Perry in 2011.

Noel told the BBC yesterday that he was never aware of any complaints against Brand, and that they "parted company around 2014".

Asked about the companies, Noel said: "I am unable to discuss the Russell Brand story for legal reasons."

Meanwhile, documents reveal that Brand's agent Angharad Wood resigned from a company she and Brand ran together, 90 Ninety Films, last Wednesday, days before the allegations against the comedian emerged. She has now dropped him as a client.

Brand has other companies including one called Pablo Diablo's Legitimate Business Firm Ltd, which saw its net assets more than double from £2m in 2020 to £4.1m in 2021.

Tara Mewawalla
Live reporter

Earlier today, YouTube suspended Russell Brand's channels from making money from adverts for "violating" its "creator responsibility policy".

While the video platform noted that monetisation bans - like this one applied to Brand - are rare, it pointed to examples of similar instances in the past.

YouTube star David Dobrik had his channels temporarily demonetised in March 2021. It came after a woman alleged she was raped by a former associate of his during the filming of a video for Dobrik's channel in 2018.

The video was removed - Dobrik denied any wrongdoing.

Beauty YouTuber James Charles also had his channel temporarily demonetised in 2021. In April that year, he admitted sending sexually explicit messages to two 16-year-old boys.

YouTube has also permanently deleted individual channels in the past.

The site permanently deleted singer Austin Jones’s channel in 2019 after he admitted exchanging sexually explicit images and videos with underage girls.

Zoe Kleinman
Technology editor

I'm at Spotify HQ right now and they've just confirmed they have no plans to remove Russell Brand's content unless the material itself is found to be in breach of Spotify terms and conditions - that is, contains hate speech, incitement to violence.

As for payment, Spotify pays the rights holder, which is Acast, and says it is up to Acast whether it chooses to continue to pay Brand.

A spokesman for Acast says the company immediately turned off ads on Brand's Under The Skin podcast following news of the recent allegations against him. Brand has denied all allegations.

Gudrun Young KC is a barrister specialising in criminal defence and doesn't think a staggered age of consent from 16 to 18 would work in the current legal system.

"We do have a staggered age of consent when there is a structural or institutional power relationship," she tells BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

"For example the law already caters for this if someone is in a care home or education institution, and if they are aged between 16 and 18 and someone has a sexual relationship with them although they are technically over the age of consent that is already criminalised.

"In my view the law has gone as far as it should in criminalising relationships with adults and people over the age of 16.

"The real question is, if we were to expand it further where does it stop?"

The age of consent around the world ranges from 14, in countries like Germany and Portugal, to 20 in South Korea. In some countries, a person needs to be married to consent.

These laws are changing all the time: Japan raised its age of consent from 13 to 16 this year.

There are lots of caveats, too. In Germany, a person over 21 can have sex with a 14-year-old, but only if the younger person is not exploited - with the younger person required to make a complaint.

Some US states like Colorado, external have additional rules known as "close-in-age exemptions".

For instance, the age of consent in the state is 17, but those aged 15 and 16 may consent to a relationship with someone up to 10 years older.

One of the women who has accused Russell Brand of sexual assault when she was 16 told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour yesterday that the allegations against him had been "a long time coming".

The comedian and actor has been accused of rape and sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013, which he denies.

Speaking for the first time since the accusations became public, the woman, known as Alice, said his denial was "laughable" and "insulting".

During the interview, she also called for an introduction of legal "staggered ages of consent", suggesting people over 18 should not be allowed to have sex with 16 and 17-year-olds.

The age of consent in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is 16. This means it is against the law to have sex with someone under the age of 16 in the UK.

As long as a person is 16 or older, there are no rules on age gaps for relationships or sexual encounters in the UK - unless the older person is a teacher or in a position of authority, where different rules can apply. That means that, for instance, a 16-year-old can consent to a relationship with most 30-year-olds in the UK.

Ellie House
Business reporter

Image source, Getty Images

While YouTube has suspended Russell Brand's channels from making money from adverts, Rumble is still carrying ads on his content.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Rumble, it started out in 2013 as a video-streaming website.

While that is still its main focus, in recent years the Canadian firm has branched into web-hosting - offering computing services for companies like Donald Trump's Truth Social platform.

Aiming one day to rival the likes of Google and Facebook, what makes Rumble controversial is its pledge to rally against censorship, and allow freedom of speech as much as possible., external

As a result of this, Rumble has become the home to a great many video channels - more often politically conservative - where people can say things that might get them kicked off other social media sites, like YouTube and Twitter.

But, speaking earlier this year Prof Evelyn Douek noted there are big challenges ahead for Rumble.

• You can read more about Rumble here

Here's some more from BBC director general Tim Davie, who spoke to staff earlier this afternoon.

After announcing the review into Brand's time at the BBC from 2006 to 2008, he was asked if the BBC had a culture of "letting people get away with bad behaviour".

"I do think we're in a different place, over 15 years," he replied.

"When I listened back, frankly, to some of those broadcasts [featured on Channel 4's investigation into Brand] I go, that is just completely unacceptable.

"What led to that being on air? Now there are, you know, different times and all of that, but I just look at that stuff and I say there is no way I will listen to that, there's no way I accept it."

Image source, X

Before the details of the sexual allegations were published at the weekend, Russell Brand shared a video of himself speaking to a camera and denying the claims.

"Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute," he said.

"These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I've written about extensively in my books I was very, very promiscuous.

"Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual."

He said that he was "almost too transparent" about that and asked if "there was another agenda at play".

Brand said he believed he was the subject of a "co-ordinated attack" and he was going to look into the matter because it was "very, very serious".

Louisa Compton, head of news at Channel 4, has shared a letter its chief executive Alex Mahon has written to Caroline Dinenage, external - who chairs the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee - to explain what investigations the broadcaster has been doing.

The letter says that since Mahon was made aware of some of the allegations just over a week ago, they have carried out “extensive document searches and thus far have found no evidence to suggest the alleged incidents were brought to the attention of Channel 4 management at the time".

The letter goes on to add that further investigations will be carried out to “ensure our industry has safe, inclusive and professional working environments".

Image source, PA Media

BBC director general Tim Davie has just announced a review of Russell Brand's time at the corporation.

He has appointed Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints, to lead the review. They hope to release an interim update within weeks.

The review will look at any complaints against Brand, what was known, and what was done.

It will also include a look into Brand's alleged use of a BBC car. One alleged victim - known as Alice - says Brand sent a BBC car to take her from school to Brand's house when she was 16, and he was 30.

Brand worked for BBC radio between 2006 and 2008, and has appeared as a guest on other shows.