A huge Black YouTuber is calling out the platform for alleged racism and favoritism after one of his videos was restricted by the algorithm.
CoryxKenshin, who has over 14 million subscribers, posted a viral video on Wednesday (August 24) outlining his grievances against the Google-owned video-sharing website.
"Never in a million years did I think I would upload a video like this but here we are," the description of the video reads.
The situation began when he uploaded a video of him playing a horror video game called The Mortuary Assistant on August 18. Later that day, the content creator reveals that the video got age-restricted for seemingly no reason. He also pointed out that other YouTubers, including Markiplier, one of the top gaming channels, didn't get targeted by the algorithm.
For those not familiar with age restriction, this means a video was deemed unsuitable for viewers under 18. While YouTube claims this only prevents that audience from getting those videos recommended to them, other content creators say it makes it harder for any viewer to discover the video.
Cory appealed the decision later that day, but a human reviewer doubled down on age-restricting the video. YouTube's policy team reversed the decision after Cory's partner manager sent a clip of Markiplier's video, which had the same scene that triggered the age-restriction.
Four days later, Cory's playthrough was age-restricted along with Markiplier's.
"You realize how bad this looks for you, YouTube," he says. "I, in all my years, have never seen a video get age-restricted, de-age-restricted, and age-restricted again. Have any of you seen that happen before?"
The controversy got worse when the video was temporarily taken down within minutes of its upload. According to a pinned comment from Cory, the video, "was immediately flagged for 'Ad suitability.' I wonder why. Surely it isn't because it's YouTube being shown in a poor light? Surely not."
The content creator says he's been feeling "mistreated" over the decade he spent building his channel, especially when he sees big success.
"Every single time I come back to YouTube, I’m No. 1 trending for a few days and then they find some arbitrary issue… something to incriminate me for and try to push me down," he explains. "I would've just hope that the playing field was fair, and hey, if I did something bad, then everyone else who also did that thing should also get punished, too. Is that unreasonable?"
The video has wracked up over 3.5 million views in under 24 hours and is No. 1 trending in the gaming category as of Thursday morning (August 25).
YouTube has yet to respond to the allegations.
Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HERE to tune in live.