The video showed an angry motorist attacking Trump supporters in Northbrook, Illinois (Earlier story is here.)

Go to the earlier story and you’ll see that YouTube removed the video, “…for violating YouTube’s Terms of Service.” No further explanation was provided.

Instinctively a lot of people would say it’s just another case of the elite left and big corporate censoring  messages they don’t like–namely anything that supports President Donald Trump, makes his opponents look nasty or any of the many other things that are targets of the cancel culture.

For all I know that might be right.

I attempted to find out what terms I violated, leading me read the actual terms of service that everyone is required to accept in order to use YouTube. (Have you or anyone you know read it?) It’s 3,37o words of legalese. Among other things, it says a video can be removed if it violates a copyright (mine didn’t) or it violates some vaguely defined community standards.

Here’s the video explains those standards:
[embedded content]

There’s also this YouTube explanation:

For example, a video posted by a citizen journalist capturing footage of protesters being beaten would likely be allowed if it includes relevant context. In this example, relevant information could be a list of tips at the beginning of the video on how to stay safe when at a protest. Or, a voice-over narration about the protest’s history. The video should also have a clear title or description indicating that it is reporting on or documenting  the content.

The “relative context” was explained in my post. Here it is again: A local (hyper)activist posted a sign in a public park that counts national Covid-19 deaths and makes a not subtle suggestion, by including “Donald J. Trump, President” on the display, that the president is to blame for all those deaths. Trump supporters showed up to make their own counter statement, but a passing upset motorist left his car to confront the Trump supporters. Words were exchanged and the motorist (never identified) attempted to rip the Trump sign out of a support’s hand.

So, the context is, to put it bluntly, even Trump haters can themselves be nasty, or even on the verge of violence.

So, did the video “promote” violence? Or does it make a difference when the violence was promoted by a Trump hater? If so, removing the video cancels the “educational” context of the video (violence promoted by a Trump hater.) more to the point: It’s snuffed out.

Search for “violence” on the YouTube website, and you’ll find all kinds of examples, including videos of violence committed by George Floyd protestors. So, I’m a bit flummoxed what my video did wrong.

YouTube has a process for appealing the removal of a video. So I went to the on-line instructions, and remained flummoxed. It’s long and complicated. I’d rather send YouTube a message this way. Since it seems to be reading or monitoring my posts.

Here’s the video showing the sign that the (hyper)activist made that promoted the episode. Apparently his explanation was peaceful enough that it wasn’t removed.