My family created a virtual tour of our modern hog farm and posted it on YouTube. In January, we noticed our video had been flagged as inappropriate content. You could no longer view our video unless you were a member of YouTube and over 18 years of age.
I was frustrated by this censorship and tried multiple times to contact YouTube to resolve this issue but I was unsuccessful. Our video is “G” rated and our children are even in it. What frustrated me even more was the fact there were several videos on YouTube depicting animal abuse that were not deemed inappropriate content and children and adults were allowed to watch these videos without being a member of YouTube or over the age of 18. Why were my First Amendment Rights being stripped away while other videos showing animal abuse were not being censored?
Our video was created to help the public understand modern agriculture. Thanks to science and technology, we are better able to protect not only our livestock, but our food supply as well. Our family wanted to help show what modern agriculture is and to show how 99% of farmers and ranchers care properly for their farms and livestock.
My faith in YouTube was restored yesterday when I discovered my video had been returned to it’s “G” rating. I was not notified by YouTube that this happened, and I am not sure when or how it happened. What I do know is last week there were several articles about my video being flagged inappropriate and tweets were flying on Twitter about my video being blocked. Thank you YouTube for returning my video to a “G” rating, I just wish it hadn’t taken 6 months!