YouTube didn't say he didn't need to. Show me in the terms of service where it says that as long as they follow specific guidelines that they don't reserve the right to flag or remove content.
You accidentally only got the first third of the rule?
> You can turn on ads for this content:
> Abbreviated, censored, or light profanity (like “hell” or “damn”) in the title, thumbnail, or video. Moderate profanity (like “shit” or “bitch”) used in the video. Infrequent usage of strong profanity (like the "f-word”) after the opening or up to twice in approx. the first 30 seconds of the video; or strong profanity in a music video.
There was one single burst of fucks. That's infrequent use of strong profanity.
The next category up, which is still the intermediate category for advertiser friendliness, is "Focal usage of strong profanity throughout a video (e.g. mentioned in every sentence)."
SummoningSalt is a documentarian and it seems entirely reasonable to show the footage unaltered. Especially considering the context and the how little was actually shown.
My problem is, six rapid f bombs in the span of 3 seconds as celebration of winning a speed run just does not warrant an adult rating.
Edit: I grant that it’s not for young children, but can you really say it’s on the same level as Adults Only content because of this? Is it so bad that only 18+ year olds can handle how profane this is? The video shouldn’t show up on YouTube Kids, but this doesn’t warrant making it as restrictive as adults only.
Anyway, sure he could do that. Youtube said he didn't need to, then punished him harshly for being well within the rules.