Hi
r/videos.
We live in trying times. And lately we've noticed that people kinda wanna talk about it. So, we've been discussing internally about whether it's time to revisit R2, our hitherto extremely restrictive anti-politics rule that sees us removing a lot of videos that would otherwise attract considerable interest and discussion.
At the same time, we want strike some sort of balance to respect the 'escape' possible on
r/videos, away from other subs like
r/news which seem to contain nothing else (no offense to them, it's a great community, but it can be depressing given the state of the world).
So with that in mind, as a mod team, we're going to pause some R2 removals and see how it goes for a bit. Your feedback is welcome.
The details
R2 is broken down into a few aspects:
Politicians in videos whatsoever, even non-political contexts
Videos featuring politicians/politicos from the last 10 years in non-political contexts (e.g., Arnold Schwarzenegger workouts, Elon in a SpaceX launch video) have historically been banned. This has always struck me as a bit odd and has been weakly enforced at times over the years.
We want to rescind this aspect of R2 entirely.
So, this type of video is now allowed during the trial period.
Social Justice Issues
Videos about topics like inequality, racism, wealth disparity, etc. have also been banned, historically. But again, enforcement has been inconsistent. We do allow occasional videos on the rich/poor divide, on immigration, on healthcare and education.
We want to rescind this aspect of R2 entirely, and let the community decide which kinds of these videos should make the front page, based on upvotes. Simple as that.
So, this type of video is now allowed during the trial period.
A reminder: “public freakouts” content (violent arrests, protests, shootings) remains disallowed. We're not suddenly going to turn into
r/CrazyFuckingVideos (props to them, but different vibe here).
Policy & Issue-Focused Content
Videos about global policy matters will be allowed during the trial.
This covers videos on climate change and right to repair that contain a political aspect (which have often been allowed anyway), but also videos on geopolitical conflicts, and about policy around things like immigration, since it's a hot topic right now (provided they do not contain violence, shootings, freakouts or other unacceptable content).
Politics of the Day
Videos tied to current political issues (e.g., Trump tariffs, Epstein files, anti-immigrant protests in Europe, Nepal revolution, Ukraine war, Gaza conflict) will be allowed, but we're going to try to avoid them overwhelming the sub.
A reminder that war footage, gore, death, etc., will still not be permitted here. There are plenty of other places on Reddit and the Internet at large to find such things.
We'll aim at no more than ~10–20% of the top 50 posts. Moderators will review this - when Limits Are Exceeded, we'll cull recent duplicates, videos that overlaps with others that already have more traction, repetitive/played out topics, then the lowest-upvoted submissions.
This is probably the most controversial part of the changes we're proposing, and also may be the one we revise ultimately.
What remains BANNED
Covered by our rules and Reddit's sitewide rules:
- Public freakouts
- Shootings, stabbings, explosions, crushings
- Car or bike accidents
- Industrial accidents
- Other kinds of gore
- Any video featuring death or killed people
- Videos of protests depicting extreme violence
- Violent arrests and other police actions
- Animal death
- Animal distress
- Copyright infringement, e.g. full movies ripped on to Youtube
- Stealing other people's videos
- Pornography
- Hate speech
- Bigotry
- Racism
- Sexism
- Videos inciting discrimination based on sexual or gender orientation
- Doxxing, witchhunting
- Sharing other people's sensitive information or private moments without consent
- Incitements to violence or to kill others
- Videos glorifying any of the above
Self Promotion
A reminder that this is not an invitation to post your own videos. Reddit video hosting remains disabled here. This sub is a curated list of interesting videos found on other sites, not a place to share your shaky cam footage of a car crashing into a tree.
Feedback
Let us know what you think, and let us know how it's going. We will likely trial this for about 4 to 6 weeks, then consult/decide on what to do next.
Hope you're all having a lovely day.
IS 
