YouTube Keeps Changing Its Story For Why It Age-Restricted A Summoning Salt Video

Any video game fan and YouTube enjoyer has likely stumbled across Summoning Salt, arguably the internet's premier speedrunning historian who has carved a significant niche on the platform with his lengthy, detailed and surprisingly gripping documentaries about the history of various video games' world record speedruns.

For many of his 1.5 million subscribers, each Summoning Salt video is a "set-aside-an-hour" event, as fans can expect nitty gritty details about various speedrunners attempting to break classic games with frame-perfect tricks in order to shave seconds off their personal best times.

What they don't expect (nor do they ever receive) is an excess of profanity and nudity, as Summoning Salt's videos tackle the subjects meticulously and professionally without a sensationalist tone or angle to hook in viewers.

However, a recent fracas between Summoning Salt and YouTube has unfolded over the following two weeks, as YouTube made the bizarre decision to age-restrict Salt's latest video, an exhaustive 80-minute history of Mega Man II speedruns.

My Mega Man 2 video was just age-restricted. I can't even imagine what in there could be triggering it. There's no sexual content, gore, excessive swearing, etc.YouTube</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamYouTube?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">TeamYouTube please help pic.twitter.com/aCKDfMPFF1

— SummoningSalt (@summoningsalt) September 21, 2022

Know Your Meme can independently confirm that, on the surface, there is nothing untoward about Salt's video. There is no excessive swearing, blood or Mega Man characters ripping their clothes off to do sex acts.

Still, YouTube confusingly appears to have honed in on a three-second clip where a speedrunner drops the F-bomb repeatedly after screwing up a speedrun. All but the most sheltered of YouTube viewers will have heard far worse in their travels, but YouTube inexplicably decided that it was enough to age-restrict Salt's documentary — whether by an auto-mod or human moderator.

Luckily, the day after putting the age restriction in place, YouTube removed it and tweeted a straightforward apology saying it "screwed up."

Thank you YouTube!

And most importantly, thanks to everyone who supported me here the last 24 hours. The retweets, replies, etc all helped get their attention. It’s great to know I have such a passionate community to support me. https://t.co/AUcsgZZKSO

— SummoningSalt (@summoningsalt) September 22, 2022

However, this would not be the end of YouTube's apparent blunders. One week later, they age-restricted his Mega Man II video again. The reason this time? "Sex and nudity."

I just woke up this morning to this email in my inbox.@TeamYouTube Please tell me what in the fuck I'm supposed to do pic.twitter.com/9NS9FLesTh

— SummoningSalt (@summoningsalt) September 30, 2022

I appealed the age-restriction just to see if it would work. Of course, the appeal was denied.

Now they're telling me it's violating their "sex and nudity policy".

It's a Mega Man 2 video. pic.twitter.com/Q8gbZ9Gzzw

— SummoningSalt (@summoningsalt) September 30, 2022

This was truly baffling to Salt and onlookers alike, as even if YouTube was on shaky ground enforcing an age restriction due to profanity (Salt himself pointed to an AVGN video that had a much higher concentration of profanity but wasn't restricted), there is nothing in his Mega Man II video that could seemingly be argued as violating YouTube's sex and nudity policy.

On Monday, Salt then reported that YouTube had sent him yet another email regarding its decision, saying "senior members" of the team had decided the video violated its profanity policy.

Final decision from @YouTube – the age-restriction will remain in place.

It is really sad that "senior members" of YouTube's policy team somehow see a 3 second clip as a "sustained rant". I don't understand how someone, let alone a team could have that as their unbiased opinion. pic.twitter.com/GZmMhYSRU3

— SummoningSalt (@summoningsalt) October 4, 2022

Summoning Salt told Kotaku he believed the fiasco lost him between $5,000 and $6,000 in revenue, a potentially devastating sum for a smaller creator.

As of last night, Salt stated he plans to reupload the video with the profanity completely removed, though the damage has likely been done, as the original still racked up over 1.4 million views before he deleted it.

Hey all –
Tomorrow afternoon, I will be re-uploading my Mega Man 2 video. All profanity will be removed. The current video is age-restricted and dead in the water. I didn't want it to come to this, but I think it's the best move for the future of the channel.

— SummoningSalt (@summoningsalt) October 5, 2022

The controversy highlights yet another baffling moderation decision that has harmed creators online. Most recent cases of unclear and heavy moderation harming creators have come from Twitch, which is part of the reason why some Twitch creators have discussed migrating to YouTube.

However, while Twitch has notoriously ticked off some of its high-profile streamers with its mysterious moderation policy, it seems YouTube has its own set of problems.