14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube finally has an explanation for what's happening with its Restricted Mode feature blocking out LGBTQ+ content from users - the system is flawed.
Yes, that's YouTube's explanation on the matter, as they detail in a blog post recently posted.
"We designed this feature to broadly restrict content across more mature topics, whether these are videos that contain profanity, those that depict images or descriptions of violence, or discussion of certain diseases like addictions and eating disorders. Today, about 1.5 percent of YouTube’s daily views come from people who have Restricted Mode turned on," writes Johanna Wright, VP of Product Management for YouTube.
"Our system sometimes makes mistakes in understanding context and nuances when it assesses which videos to make available in Restricted Mode. [...] While the system will never be 100 percent perfect, as we said up top, we must and will do a better job," she continues.
The company has fixed the current issue and manually reviewed the videos that have been reported to them and made sure they are now available in Restricted Mode.
Fixing the problem entirely will take time, however. The company says it will have to fully audit its technology and roll out new changes, but they're coming.
"There's nothing more important to us than being a platform where anyone can belong, have a voice and speak out when they believe something needs to be changed," said Wright.
A few tense days
After accusations started pouring in about YouTube blocking LGBTQ+ content via its Restricted Mode, the company has said that it is proud of the representation the community has on YouTube and that the purpose of this particular mode was to filter out mature content. "LGBTQ+ videos are available in Restricted Mode, but videos that discuss more sensitive issues may not be," they said in a statement that made more people angry.
Despite this statement, the content being left out was made out of wedding vows, coming out stories, transitioning vlogs, and even music videos of gay artists.
Some hours later, YouTube finally returned to the topic apologizing for the confusion and claiming some videos were incorrectly labeled, which wasn't right.
For the moment, the community is appeased, knowing something is being done, although there are still many voices complaining, as there always will be.