Prominent gamer and internet personality Cory “CoryxKenshin” Williams has called attention to YouTube’s policies in his latest video, in which he claims the platform has unfair practices against black YouTubers.
“YouTube – you’re either partial or racist or both,” Corix Kensing said in the video, noting that his allegations were “extremely serious.” It started when CoryxKenshin, who has been making videos since 2009 and now has over 14 million subscribers, uploaded a video on YouTube of the gameplay of his new horror game, The Mortuary Assistant. He said the video was “age-restricted” when it was shared, and YouTube did not give a reason.
The age restriction will result in fewer views of his videos and less ad revenue. He said he was confused because he was really trying to make his content family-friendly.
CoryxKenshin said he tried to appeal the restriction, but YouTube declined, still without providing any specific reasons. What puzzled him even more was that he looked around the website and found that the same game videos posted by other players did not have an age limit.
He then contacted his partnership manager, who suspected his video might be age-restricted due to a specific scene in the game itself, in which a character struggles with self-harm. But CoryxKenshin pointed out that another famous player, Markiplier, also showed the same scene, but his video has no age restriction.
He appealed again to YouTube through his partner manager, citing those comparisons. Subsequently, the age restriction was removed from his videos. But it bothers him that YouTube clearly needs a non-Black YouTuber to live up to his claims. A few days later, videos of him and Makiplier were age-restricted.
“Why is my channel getting more scrutiny than my competitors’ channels?” CoryxKenshin said in the video. “When I say ‘colleagues’ I mean people who are at my level and have as many opinions as I do. Simply put, why is my channel getting so much scrutiny, especially when I’ve been ranked #1 for several days in a row For a while, and I’ve done it many times?”
In addition, after CoryxKenshin released the video, many people expressed their support, and the video has now been viewed more than 5 million times.
