That interpretation is unclear from that source. It's at least equally likely that a feature to tamp down on rebroadcast of sporting events and such has fouled broadcast of protests.
Regardless of cause though, it would make YouTube a worse platform for live citizen journalism.
> That interpretation is unclear from that source.
lol.
"Several livestreams posted on Google’s platform last weekend by truckers protesting in Canada have had their audience limited... This creator explained that they have had the channel for seven years, with 90 videos and several streams..."
Yes. That is what the source said and the interpretation "it is targeting a very specific type of content: medical mandate protest coverage" is unclear from that source.
A recent change to the system to tamp down on resharing copyrighted data would catch those kinds of streams in the "blast radius," so to speak. Such a change would not be targeting that very specific type of content the GP comment describes. The source does not support that interpretation with sufficient evidence.
I saw the behavior first hand on a few of the livestreams of the Ottawa protests last weekend, wanting to watch them out of curiosity. Never had YouTube do this before and it allowed me to watch only after subscribing to the channels in question.
Regardless of cause though, it would make YouTube a worse platform for live citizen journalism.