David Farnor | On 25, Apr 2017

YouTube has added 12 million videos to its Restricted Mode, following criticisms that the feature was censoring out hundreds and thousands of LGBTQ+ uploads.

Restricted Mode, if you’ve never used it, is an optional feature deisgned to filter out mature content to make YouTube usable in places such as schools and libraries. In March, though, users became aware that lots of videos without any mature content were being unfairly blocked by the mode, particularly those relating to LGBTQ+ topics or uploaded by LGBTQ+ creators.

At the time, YouTube promised to fix its filters and now, the site has announced that it has reworked its system, from engineering settings to talking with creators and third-party organisations.

“We want to clarify that Restricted Mode should not filter out content belonging to individuals or groups based on certain attributes like gender, gender identity, political viewpoints, race, religion or sexual orientation,” Johanna Wright, VP of Product Management at YouTube, wrote in a blog post offering an update on the issue.

“One thing we heard loud and clear was people’s desire to report videos they believed were being inappropriately excluded from Restricted Mode. Starting today, we’re providing a form to allow creators and viewers alike to give us feedback about this. We will use this input to help improve our automated system going forward,” added Wright.

YouTube has also issued new, clearer guidelines about what will make a video excluded from RestrictedM Moed.

Drugs and alcohol

If you’re talking about drug use or abuse, or if you’re drinking alcohol in your videos, your videos will likely not be available in Restricted Mode.

Sex

While some educational, straightforward conversations about sexual education may be included in Restricted Mode, overly detailed conversations about sex or sexual activity will likely be removed. This is one of the more difficult topics to train our systems on, and context is key. If your music video features adult themes like sex or drug use, that video will likely not make it into Restricted Mode.

Violence

If your video includes graphic descriptions of violence, violent acts, natural disasters and tragedies, or even violence in the news, it will likely not appear in Restricted Mode.

Mature subjects

Videos that cover specific details about events related to terrorism, war, crime, and political conflicts that resulted in death or serious injury may not be available on Restricted Mode, even if no graphic imagery is shown.

Profane and mature language

Inappropriate language including profanity like “F bombs” will also likely result in your video not being available in Restricted Mode.

 

YouTube promises to “fix” restricted mode

21st March 2017

YouTube has promised to “fix” its controversial restricted mode, after it received a torrent of complaints about the site’s apparent censorship of LGBTQ videos.

Users have been vocally protesting in large numbers over the last few days, following the discovery that YouTube’s restricted mode, which is designed to filter out potentially inappropriate content, appeared to block a lot of LGBTQ content.

As a community-driven site, YouTube has a lot of ways in which it attempts to moderate and filter out sensitive, offensive or age-inappropriate uploads. Violence, profanity, and sexually explicit language or content, including nudity, are all generally restricted, requiring people to sign in and confirm their age. Creators can even put age restrictions on their own videos, while viewers can also flag videos for review by YouTube’s moderators to determine whether they should be restricted or removed.

A restricted mode was introduced by YouTube back in 2010 as an optional feature to let schools, or very protective parents, allow users to browse the site without seeing more mature or inappropriate content, including discussions of addictions or descriptions of violence. Only 1.5 per cent of YouTube’s daily views come from people with restricted mode turned on.

This weekend, though, it became apparent that restricted mode excluded a lot of LGBTQ videos. For LGBTQ creators, subjects such as health and sexuality are often an inherent part of context, regardless of the actual content.

Just looked at my videos with the "restricted mode" on. Seeing a bit of a theme here…

LGBT+ content not safe for kids @YouTube? pic.twitter.com/KnhayE4h1y

— fiona ✨ (@neonfiona) March 16, 2017

Tyler Oakley, music duo Tegan and Sara and other prominent vloggers all took to Twitter to call YouTube out on its filters, with #YouTubeIsOverParty trending on the social network.

until we hear back from @youtube, please actively check on all LGBTQ+ creators you're subscribed to & continue to support their content.

— Tyler Oakley (@tyleroakley) March 19, 2017

Sadly our U-Turn video also is gone. Nothing gay in it accept us. Our dancing IS pretty bad. Must be why? @youtube is it our dancing?

— Tegan and Sara (@teganandsara) March 19, 2017

YouTube has now issued a serious apology to those affected, saying that the hiding of LGBTQ videos was unintentional.

“We understand that this has been confusing and upsetting, and many of you have raised concerns about Restricted Mode and your content being unfairly impacted,” said Johanna Wright, VP of Product Management, YouTube. “The bottom line is that this feature isn’t working the way it should. We’re sorry and we’re going to fix it.”

“Our system sometimes make mistakes in understanding context and nuances when it assesses which videos to make available in Restricted Mode,” she admitted. “For instance, the following videos are examples of where we got it wrong: Ash Hardell’s “Her Vows,” Calum McSwiggan’s “Coming Out To Grandma,” Jono and Ben’s “Woman interrupted during BBC interview,” and Tegan and Sara’s “BWU [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO].

“While the system will never be 100 percent perfect, as we said up top, we must and will do a better job. Thanks to your feedback, we’ve manually reviewed the example videos mentioned above and made sure they’re now available in Restricted Mode — we’ll also be using this input to better train our systems. It will take time to fully audit our technology and roll out new changes, so please bear with us.”

“We know this isn’t about numbers,” she added. “It’s about the principle of anyone having access to important content and different points of view.”

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