YouTube's lengthy policy on violent content is getting a little longer, and Grand Theft Auto videos in particular may trigger enforcement of a new rule related to depictions of torture and mass violence.
"In addition to our existing guidelines around graphic gaming content, we will age-restrict an additional small subset of video game content featuring realistic human characters that focuses on scenes of torture or scenes of mass violence against non-combatants," reads an update posted this week.
The video platform will make its judgment based on three criteria: The duration of the violent scene or scenes, whether or not the violence is the focus of the video, and whether or not the characters in the game are realistic humans.
Unless the Postal series sees a huge resurgence in popularity, GTA 5 and the upcoming GTA 6 are the most likely games to put the "mass violence against non-combatants" guideline to the test, though from the sounds of it only videos that make mass murder a particular focus will be hit with an age restriction under this rule. Clipping a virtual pedestrian with a car during a mission might be fine, but making a video about driving through crowds could be flagged.
YouTube is also expanding its definition of gambling content to include the gambling of videogame skins and NFTs, and will now age gate "content that depicts, promotes, or facilitates social casino sites."
Videos which YouTube age gates can only be viewed by logged-in users who are 18 or older.
The new rules take effect November 17, and may be applied retroactively, causing existing videos to be age gated or removed, but any such actions "will not result in a strike," says YouTube. More on the policy update can be found on the YouTube support site.
