Did YouTube takedown Mr Beast's video on r/YouTube subreddit criticising healthcare system? Platform responds to ‘censoring’ claims

Mr Beast, one of YouTube’s biggest stars, sparked a heated debate on January 11 when he released a video titled I Helped 2,000 People Walk Again. While the video highlighted his charitable efforts to provide prosthetic legs to amputees, it ended on a serious note, as MrBeast criticized the U.S. healthcare system.

According to Dexerto, following the video and tweets, a Reddit user shared Mr Beast’s statement on the popular r/YouTube subreddit. The post quickly gained traction, amassing over 70,000 upvotes and nearing the subreddit’s all-time record for popularity. But then, something unexpected happened—it was removed. YouTube clarified that it did not remove Mr.Beast's video from the r/YouTube subreddit. In a post on X, YouTube clarified:

"For those asking – r/youtube is a fan run subreddit, it's not owned by or affiliated with YouTube in any way."

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However, this removal of the video from Reddit sparked an immediate backlash, with critics accusing Reddit moderators of 'censoring' Mr Beast for his criticism of the healthcare system. Twitter user @scubaryan_ called attention to the takedown writing:

"r/YouTube took down MrBeast’s statement criticizing the U.S. healthcare system as it was going viral 👀"

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Mr Beast also added a comment to the post's thread, chiming in with:

"Yeah was on track to hit the front page of Reddit. Such a shame that the mods on r/youtube will do anything to censor mrbeast unless it’s negative about me then it’s magically fine."

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The moderators of the subreddit r/YouTube also explained that the post was mistakenly removed by an automatic filter and was restored once the error was discovered. They shared full support for the post's message, stating they were in 100% agreement' with it.

The moderator for r/YouTube also said:

"The post is live, approved, and shouldn't go down unless reddit admins take it down. That's the only action I cannot prevent."

Screenshot of statement from moderators of r/YouTube (Image via Reddit)

What did Mr Beast say in the video?

Mr Beast took to X to share details about his latest video, titled, 'I Helped 2,000 People Walk Again.' In the post, he wrote:

"Just uploaded a video where we helped 2,000 amputees walk again. Many lived in America and it feels so disgusting that in a country with this much wealth, a f*cken YouTuber is their only option to get a prosthetic leg. We need to fix this."

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The philanthropist not only provided prosthetic limbs to individuals in need but also cast light on the staggering cost and systemic challenges surrounding access to medical care. Mr Beast revealed a troubling reality:

“It sounds crazy, but most of the people in this video either cannot afford insurance or did not have adequate coverage, meaning that, if we didn’t step in, they may not have ever walked again.”

In a heartfelt conclusion to the video, Mr. Beast criticized the fact that so many people relied on him—a YouTuber—for something as essential as prosthetic limbs:

“I wanted to say that the fact that some of these people had insurance and were denied, some of these people had insurance but didn’t have the right coverage – it just doesn’t sit right with me.”

He expressed disbelief at the systemic gaps that left so many without options:

“Their only hope right now of getting a prosthetic leg so they can walk again, so they can go get a job, is for a YouTuber to step in and help them. Which is absurd. I don’t know what the answer is, but I wanted to say this so the 100 million people watching this can get inspired. What I saw when filming this video was obviously not ok.”

The video partnered with Martin Bionics, a prosthetics company, to supply artificial limbs to over 2,000 people. According to doctors from the company, prosthetics can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000—a financial hurdle many of the recipients could never hope to overcome without outside help.