YouTube Accused of Censoring Macklemore's 'Hind's Hall'

YouTube has been accused of censoring the video for Macklemore's new song, "Hind's Hall," on its platform.

On May 6, the rapper shared the track, which supports a free Palestine and student protests, on his social media accounts. The song also pays tribute to 6-year-old Hind Rajab, a Palestinian child who was killed by the Israeli military days after she had called emergency services begging to be rescued.

Rajab has become a symbol for people protesting the Israel-Hamas war. After students occupied Columbia University's Hamilton Hall, they unfurled a banner over the hall's facade that said "Hind's Hall," paying tribute to Rajab, who was killed alongside her family and the EMTs who tried to save her.

The song's accompanying video is made up of clips of people protesting and showing support for Palestinians, plus various clips of police officers and politicians. At the time of writing, it had received 24.7 million views on X, formerly Twitter, and more than 75 million views on Instagram. However, the video has been age-restricted on YouTube, where it has been viewed 232,116 times, prompting social media users to accuse the company of limiting the song's reach.

On YouTube, users under 18 years of age or viewers who aren't signed in to an account cannot watch the video. When users click on the video, they are met with this message: "The following content may contain graphic or violent imagery. Viewer discretion is advised."

A spokesperson for YouTube explained why they age-restricted the video in a statement shared with Newsweek.

"We age-restricted this video in accordance with our violent or graphic content policies. Sometimes, content doesn't violate our policies, but it may not be appropriate for viewers under 18 and we may age-restrict it," they said.

According to YouTube, the company may age-restrict graphic or violent content documenting warzones.

Newsweek has contacted a spokesperson for Macklemore for comment by email.

Despite YouTube's Help Center statement, social media users have taken to X to accuse the company of censorship.

"When @YouTube age restricts a video, it kills the view count and means it won't come up as a suggested video. It age-restricted @macklemore song on Gaza 'Hind's Hall.' I believe that YouTube wields this tool for censorship," journalist Laila Al-Arian wrote on X.

"This is clearly being abused to limit the reach of this video. There's nothing in the video that should be age restricted," another user added. "I've had every video I've shared on Twitter of protests involuntarily listed as sensitive media. This is clearly a coordinated effort across platforms."

A commenter said: "Why is @YouTube censoring @macklemore's powerful new song, Hind's Hall? There is literally zero justification for the blatant act of censorship. The 'age restriction' means the video's organic reach will be severely limited."

On YouTube, users have also expressed their frustration with the age restriction in the video's comments section.

"YouTube didn't put age restrictions on songs of two different Israeli artists calling death on Palestinians and threatening Dua Lipa and Bella Hadid, but they put on an age restriction on this. Sounds right," one user wrote.

"The fact that there's a YouTube violence warning before the video just proves every single damn point he's making in the song," another added.

"A content warning, age restriction, 20k likes and 16k views? Meanwhile there are 48M views on IG. Make it more obvious that this is being suppressed," a commenter said.

Macklemore said when posting the video on social media that once the song was available on streaming platforms, all proceeds would go to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, a relief and human development agency for Palestinian refugees.

The rapper touched on various topics in the song, including American politics and police brutality, and questioned why peaceful protests were being deemed a threat.

The song's lyrics include "What is threatenin' about divesting and wantin' peace? The problem isn't the protests, it's what they're protestin'," "Block the barricade until Palestine is free" and "When I was seven, I learned a lesson from Cube and Eazy-E. What was it again? Oh yeah, f*** the police."

Update 05/10/24 at 11:11 a.m. ET; This article was updated with a statement from YouTube.