March 14, 2021 | Online

With little fanfare, YouTube limits sharing of "adult" vids

YouTube is making it more difficult for content creators to share any work that the video streaming site considers "mature." The Google-owned company has decided that videos for people 18 and over will not play on third-party sites.

The change quietly started last September, but has become more obvious in 2021. Gay content seems especially hard hit, and everything from Andrew Christian videos to the latest Colton Ford music release can only be viewed on YouTube. An embed code can still be used to post the content on another site, but the video itself will be blocked from playing.

YouTube said the change was required so it could ensure minors would not be able to access content that is not age appropriate.

"This will help ensure that, no matter where a video is discovered, it will only be viewable by the appropriate audience," the company claimed.

It added that its automated machine learning systems will be used to add “age-restrictions on content that may not be appropriate for audiences under 18.”  Content will be flagged by machines, not actual humans. We all know how well that works.

In the European Union certain videos will become even harder to access, as new laws require additional protections.

"If we can not establish that you are 18 or over when you’re trying to watch age-restricted content, you may need to verify your age using a valid ID or credit card (regardless of your Google account age). The vast majority will never have to go through this process and if you do, you’ll only need to complete it once."

Once again, sexuality is targeted. Racism and bigotry? Not so much.