Tegan And Sara Help Spark YouTube Policy Change Over LGBTQ Video Content

On Monday (March 20), YouTube announced a big change to their "Restricted Mode" setting, a parental control that previously segregated LGBTQ content from the video streaming platform.

YouTube's update arrived after several users, influencers and pop duo Tegan and Sara complained that non-explicit videos with affiliations to LGBTQ life were unavailable to watch in Restricted Mode. The duo made the revelation when they discovered that "a bunch of [their] music videos disappear" if you turned on the mode, particularly their 2016 video for "U-Turn."

"If you put @YouTube on restricted mode a bunch of our music videos disappear. I checked myself. LGBTQ people shouldn't be restricted. SAD," the pair wrote on Twitter. "Sadly our U-Turn video also is gone. Nothing gay in it accept us. Our dancing IS pretty bad. Must be why? @youtube is it our dancing?"

Following the furry, the platform issued a series of additional remarks in response to the debacle. "LGBTQ+ videos are available in Restricted Mode, but videos that discuss more sensitive issues may not be," the company wrote on Sunday.

Afterward, YouTube issued another statement on the matter. "We understand that this has been confusing and upsetting, and many of you have raised concerns about Restricted Mode and your content being unfairly impacted," Johanna Wright, YouTube's vice president for product management wrote in a blog post titled "Restricted Mode: How it works and what we can do better" on Monday. "The bottom line is that this feature isn't working the way it should. We're sorry and we're going to fix it."

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