Co-Authored by: Whitney Kay Bacon
We’re wife and wife, Whitney and Megan. We conquered long distance between Hawaii and the UK, and have lived together for the past 5 years in Windsor, England. We’re also “Youtubers.” Like many other LGBTQ Youtubers, such as Calum McSwiggan, we are in great shock and dismay at Youtube’s “restricted mode.” This mode is meant to censor and effectively hide away more “sensitive” (Youtube’s words) content. We completely understand that this mode can legitimately be used to ensure that children don’t see content that is too mature for them. However, we’re in disbelief that our romantic proposal in Hawaii and of us saying “I do” in our Civil Partnership falls into the category of “sensitive” content. Even a video where we literally discuss “How We Met” is hidden in this mode. We’re drinking cups of tea in the video for goodness sake!
Our most popular videos, hidden on restricted mode.
Whilst we fell into making videos on Youtube, we did purposefully put our faces and relationship out there online in hopes that we could provide younger girls questioning their sexual orientation the validation about their feelings; and that you can find love and live happily ever after with a girl. Youtube ended up growing into such a hub of LGBTQ inspiration, validating the legitimacy of same-sex couples and normalising LGBTQ love for children, broadening their minds and opening their hearts. Now this is all hidden for view, meanwhile heterosexual couples proposals and wedding vows remain for all to see. YouTube has always been so supportive of LGBTQ rights and so this move has been even more shocking to LGBTQ Youtube content creators.
Youtube have apologised and stated in a tweet that “some videos have been incorrectly labeled.” We truly hope that this is the case but you can’t help and wonder what is driving this restricted mode for such a “tiny subset of users who want a more limited experience.” This certainly feels like pandering to homophobia and as famous Youtuber Jenna Marbles tweeted, “By users, you mean advertisers right? Be transparent with us dad we’ll take note of who advertises on restricted mode and not buy their s**t”. Youtube released a statement apologizing and stating that they’re going to fix it. Chop, chop then, Youtube, before you cater for to such a tiny subset that you loose the majority! Before long, you’ll have us believing your systems and technology were built on the 1950s, not the diverse modern world of 2017.