Watch: Chelsea Manning's Senate Run Video Deemed 'Inappropriate' by YouTube

YouTube marks content containing hate speech, violence, and explicit sexuality as "inappropriate." Since Chelsea Manning's first Senate campaign video, released Jan. 14, contains none of those things, it's unclear why YouTube tagged the video with the disclaimer "This video may be inappropriate for some users."

As previously reported, Manning is running for Senate in the state of Maryland. The "inappropriate" tag attracted the attention of the LGBTQ press as well as conservative outlets like The Daily Caller, which lamented the video's inclusion of what it called "Antifa resistance" - though without remarking on other images in the video, such as those of torch-bearing white nationalists shown throwing Nazi salutes. Nor did right-wing sources take the ad to task for referencing an article from The Intercept that lambasts Democratic lawmakers who recently voted in a way that fails to curb warrantless surveillance of communications by American citizens.

The campaign video features footage of Manning, who is shown posing in front of a mural holding a rose and walking along up a street. She is heard in voiceover, saying "We live in trying times," and declaring that our elected representatives in government "won't support us, they won't compromise." Manning goes on to suggest, "We need to stop expecting that our systems will somehow fix themselves."

In other words, government is the problem - a longtime cardinal plank in the conservative platform. If used by a progressive, however - or perhaps just by a transgender progressive - that argument is, it seems, nothing more than the words of "a traitor" and "a convict," which is how Manning is characterized in a post at The Federalist Papers.org.

Manning, who is a trans activist herself, is known for having provided sensitive documents to Wikileaks while in the Army. That action, in 2010, led to her arrest and imprisonment. Manning had been sentenced to a term of 35 years, but in one of his last acts in office, President Barack Obama pardoned her. Manning was subsequently offered a visiting fellowship at Harvard University, only for that offer to be rescinded after an outcry. (A visiting fellowship was subsequently extended to former White House communications director Sean Spicer, with no such backlash.)

Manning's primary run puts her in contention for the Maryland senatorial seat against incumbent Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, who has a track record of support for LGBTQ equality. Newsweek noted that a criminal record does not disqualify a candidate from a senatorial run. (If that were the case, former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio - who was pardoned by Donald Trump last summer, following a conviction of criminal contempt - could not run for an Arizona senatorial seat, as he has announced he is doing.)

YouTube had removed the "inappropriate" advisory by midday on Jan. 16.

This isn't the first time YouTube has come under fire for censoring content from LGBTQ people. Last year, the company drew ire for the site's "Restricted Mode," an optional filter that blocks "potentially inappropriate content," that was blocking thousands of LGBTQ videos from users. YouTube fixed the issue in April 2017.