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YouTube issues Restricted Mode fix to unhide LGBTQ content

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By John Glenday, Reporter

April 24, 2017 | 2 min read

YouTube has issued a belated fix to its Restricted Mode following criticism in March that a system designed to filter out ‘mature content’ was inadvertently blocking Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer content in the process.

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YouTube issues Restricted Mode fix to unhide LGBTQ content

Having initially tried to play down such side effects YouTube subsequently apologized and has now followed through on these warm words with action.

In a blog post Johanna Wright, YouTube’s vice president of product management said: “After a thorough investigation, we started making several improvements to Restricted Mode. On the engineering side, we fixed an issue that was incorrectly filtering videos for this feature, and now 12 million additional videos of all types — including hundreds of thousands featuring LGBTQ+ content — are available in Restricted Mode.”

To forestall a repeat of any over enthusiastic blocking in future Wright also outlined a new form which users can fill in should they feel that their videos are being inappropriately excluded from view for people browsing in restricted mode.

Restricted Mode was designed to hide videos which may contain inappropriate content from view, although the firm is the first to admit that no filter can be 100% accurate.

A recent study found that over half of British gay and bisexual men believe that the LGBT+ community is 'invisible' to advertisers.

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