Steven Crowder
Case #
2935

YouTube age restricts Steven Crowder episode discussing Kyle Rittenhouse trial and footage but leaves major news outlet videos on same topic unrestricted: Eighteen-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse was charged with first-degree murder after he killed two men and injured another allegedly in self-defense during one of the 2020 Antifa riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. YouTube placed an age restriction on Steven Crowder's "LIVESTREAM: Kyle Rittenhouse Trial Opening Arguments" video. The video explains some of the details of what happened the night of the incident and included video footage. Crowder showed footage of the fires and protestors attempting to infiltrate the walled-off courthouse in Kenosha but showed no footage of the shooting without first giving a verbal viewer discretion warning. Fifteen minutes and 30 seconds into the video Crowder said "if you have children, they shouldn't be watching this show. Just going to let you know cause we are not going to be bleeping out words. We are not editing out this content. It's important for you to know." YouTube age-restricted the video because it "reviewed [Crowder's] content and determined that it may not be suitable for viewers under the age of 18," according to a screenshot tweeted by Crowder. The platform further explained "[t]his means [the video] will not be visible to users who are logged out, are under 18 years of age, or have Restricted Mode enabled." YouTube however did not age restrict videos produced by The Washington Post and The New York Times which each showed the same footage of the fires, violence and explanation and included a written warning in the videos. It is also worth noting that while YouTube's notice stated that the video would be age restricted, an age-verified account with restricted mode turned off still receives two different warnings that must be clicked through in order to view the Crowder video. The first says that "This video may be inappropriate for some users." Once a user clicks "I understand and wish to proceed," another warning says "The following content has been identified by the Youtube community as inappropriate or offensive to some audiences. Viewer discretion is advised." This must also be click in order to proceed before a user is able to view the video.

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Age Restricted
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Age Restricted
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Age Restricted
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