YouTube Issues Mea Culpa After LGBT Creators Complain About Apparent Censorship

‘We’re Sorry and We’re Going to Fix It’

YouTube has apologized after prominent LGBTQI and other YouTube vloggers complained that the platform’s “restricted mode” had been hiding and filtering out content from LGBTQI creators, advocates, and allies.

In a tweet sent out at Monday afternoon, YouTube staffers known as YouTube Creators tweeted: “Sorry for all the confusion with Restricted Mode. Some videos have been incorrectly labeled and that’s not right. We’re on it! More to come.” 

The issue over the apparent censorship had been raised by popular vloggers who started tweeting last week complaining that some of their videos were being hidden by the platform’s Restricted Mode. In a video last Thursday vlogger Rowan Ellis spoke about her experience which caused feedback from other prominent YouTubers. 

As the controversy escalated this past weekend, hashtags #YouTubeIsOverParty and #YouTubeRestricted started trending on Twitter as more users began reporting their videos regarding LGBTQI subject matter had been hidden.

The FAQ page for YouTube had said, “We use community flagging, age-restrictions, and other signals to identify and filter out potentially inappropriate content.”

It now reads: “We use many signals—such as video title, description, metadata, Community Guidelines reviews, and age-restrictions—to identify and filter out potentially mature content.”

It is frequently used by parents, as well as schools, libraries and other institutions, to keep children from finding videos with graphic violence, explicit sexual content and other content some may find objectionable.

In a piece published Sunday by Teen Vogue, the magazine wrote: Tyler Oakley, who is one of YouTube’s biggest stars, recently became aware that one of his newest videos was blocked under Restricted Mode. He took to Twitter to address the situation, writing: “Still not fixed. One of my recent videos ‘8 Black LGBTQ+ Trailblazers Who Inspire Me’ is blocked because of this. I’m perplexed, @YouTube.” He also encouraged his followers to “actively check on all LGBTQ+ creators you’re subscribed to & continue to support their content. 

YouTube, in a late Monday post on its Creators blog, wrote, “The bottom line is that this feature isn’t working the way it should. We’re sorry and we’re going to fix it.” 

Brody Levesque is the Chief Political Correspondent for The New Civil Rights Movement.
You may contact Brody at Brody.Levesque@thenewcivilrightsmovement.com

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