It seems highly likely that these videos were "reported" to YouTube (this could have been from a state initiative or otherwise) and the videos were reviewed by

It seems highly likely that these videos were "reported" to YouTube (this could have been from a state initiative or otherwise) and the videos were reviewed by a human somewhere whos job it is to read a rule book and see if it applies. And they get removed because they broke one rule or another. This is the same as the process for any other video. > it had received multiple so-called 'strikes' for videos which contained people holding up ID cards to prove they were related to the missing, violating a YouTube policy which prohibits personally identifiable information from appearing in its content.