YouTube is reportedly hiding videos not designated as “Made for kids” for some users, even when Restricted Mode has not been enabled.
YouTube roughly has three tiers of content maturity ratings. The base one is for videos that are free of any mature content, and also don’t include any strong language. These are usually marked as “Made for kids” by the creators themselves.
The second tier covers content with moderate themes, including mild violence or occasional profanity. The final category is mature/ explicit content that’s only for 18+ viewers.
YouTube appears to be aggressively filtering content containing violence or swearing, even when it falls outside the “Made for Kids” category. A lot of people’s favorite and most frequently viewed content consists of slightly mature themes, and it does not make sense to hide those videos.
In this specific case (reported on Reddit), the person isn’t an adult. Since the account lacks age verification, YouTube may be automatically applying restrictions based on watch history and other age signals. The person has checked for Restricted Mode settings, but that doesn’t really help.
One comment suggests that these account filters may quietly kick in depending on account age signals. Clearing the cache doesn’t help with the situation, and the content also appears normal in Incognito Mode.
While this issue doesn’t affect adults and those who are age-verified, teenagers who want to view “Maturity tier 2” content with mild violence and swearing will be the most affected by this issue.
Additionally, there’s an influx of reports about Restricted Mode automatically getting turned on. There have been scattered reports about this over the past few weeks, and the complaints are similar. It’s not an ISP issue, and it looks like a bug because it’s happening on people’s personal accounts.
Scrolling down to the comments of a video reveals a disabled comments section, and others are getting the “Content isn’t available right now” error.
Using a VPN seems to temporarily solve the issue, but it returns after it’s turned off. If on iOS, some users suggest checking for software updates, because it may be fixed after updating.
I wouldn’t expect an official acknowledgement from YouTube, but there’s a chance they’ll quietly fix it on the server-side, given the influx of reports lately.
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Dwayne Cubbins
1472 Posts
For nearly a decade, I've been deciphering the complexities of the tech world, with a particular passion for helping users navigate the ever-changing tech landscape. From crafting in-depth guides that unlock your phone's hidden potential to uncovering and explaining the latest bugs and glitches, I make sure you get the most out of your devices. And yes, you might occasionally find me ranting about some truly frustrating tech mishaps.
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