“This is an absolute joke”: SummoningSalt wins battle with YouTube over age restricted content

The speedrunning community has been worked up over SummoningSalt's ongoing saga with YouTube after his Mega Man 2 speedrun was age restricted, significantly impacting his ad revenue.

SummoningSalt first took to Twitter earlier this week to call YouTube's decision an "absolute joke" after his 78-minute speedrun was age restricted for "strong profanity mentioned in every sentence." During the entirety of the video, SummoningSalt only swore during one brief moment in the middle, causing him to appeal YouTube's decision — unsuccessfully.

After YouTube double down on its decision to age restrict SummoningSalt's video, he took to Twitter to continue his fight against the platform. He explained that the Mega Man 2 speedrun video only contained 19 curse words, most of which were said in a segment that lasted a few seconds in the middle of the video.

One fan pointed out that movies are forced to have an R-rating if they use a certain amount of swears. While they don't personally agree with the decision, rules are rules, they said.

"Then explicitly state that as your system, and I'll follow it accordingly. Don't act like you can have a degree of cursing in your videos, then strike people down after the fact with uneven application of 'rules,'" SummoningSalt replied.

He wasn't having any of it.

"This is my livelihood now. While I'm grateful for YouTube for giving me the opportunity to pursue this full-time, it seems impossible when this is the level of treatment we get from our employer. It reflects very poorly on their level of care for their creators," SummoningSalt continued.

The following day, SummoningSalt was back on Twitter demanding an explanation from YouTube. He said that every day that goes by is a loss in potential revenue. As a full-time content creator, SummoningSalt relies on ad revenue as part of his income.

After the speedrun community started to rally around SummoningSalt, demanding an answer from YouTube, the platform came back with a new verdict. The age restriction had been removed from his video.

"Straight up, we made a mistake," YouTube said in its official statement. "So sorry once again."

It seemed like things were finally settled between SummoningSalt and YouTube — but the frustration with the video platform continued.

Despite his video no longer being age restricted, the speedrunner noticed that his video was still "suppressed" by YouTube. He called the situation "infuriating," noting that he received "zero views" from the suggestions algorithm even 20 hours after the age restriction was removed.

DidYouKnowGaming replied that something similar had happened to him the previous week. According to DidYouKnowGaming, views dropped by 90% even after the restriction was removed in their situation.

YouTube streamer Ludwig gave some words of encouragement to SummoningSalt.

Meanwhile, the speedrunning community was getting frustrated with YouTube on Reddit. Many fans wondered why a few swear words had such a harsh punishment while raunchy sexual content and other inappropriate videos, including ones with violence, remained untouched.

A quick glance at YouTube's nudity and sexual content policy shows that it's very similar to Twitch, not allowing pornographic content like sexual acts, fetishes, and genitals to be in streams or videos. But just like Twitch, a lot of these videos seem to slip through the cracks, with some even being labeled as children's content.

For now, SummoningSalt's Mega Man 2 video has 1.23 million views. While there is controversy surrounding the video thanks to YouTube's decision, the speedrunning community has reacted positively to the content itself. Some have even called it an "honor" to have Salt discuss the Mega Man speedrunning community and its accomplishments.