Has YouTube Automated Anti-LGBT Discrimination?

Are new YouTube filters actually just automated anti-LGBT discrimination? Vloggers this weekend started noticing that a number of benign posts had been flagged after YouTube put new policies in place intended to help parents prevent their children from watching inappropriate content.

Gigi Gorgeous, a transgender YouTuber, heard about the issue a couple days ago and on Saturday posted a video titled #ProudToBeRestricted. The video explained how her own content was handled by the filters. She first learned of the issue when bombarded with tweets on the issue.

To test the story, Gorgeous says her girlfriend turned Restricted Mode on and checked out Gorgeous' feed. Only beauty videos and make-up tips showed up. "Nothing about my gender identity or my sexual orientation," Gorgeous says in her post. When restrictions were turned back off, "every video I've ever made was there."

Frustration over the restrictions quickly spread, and YouTube today issued a statement on Twitter: "Sorry for all the confusion with Restricted Mode. Some videos have been incorrectly labeled and that's not right. We're in it! More to come."

Gorgeous says she's concerned any posts about her gender identity would be deemed inappropriate for children, particularly since so many youths exploring their gender identity search for online communities and havens while going through the self-discovery process. "When I was younger, YouTube was my family," she says. "YouTube was where I found a community of people who understood what I was going through."