Red Dead 2 Suffragette Clips Deleted by YouTube

YouTube has removed several videos posted on its platform from a battered and murdered suffragette in the video game Red Dead Redemption 2.

The Google-owned company said the recordings violated its rules on acceptable content.

At least one of the clips had attracted more than a million views before moving to the act.

Several users had joked that they were capable of attacking a "feminist" in related comments.

Red Dead Redemption 2, a Western theme, takes place in the late 19th century, about two decades before women got the vote in all US states.

On Wednesday morning, the BBC asked the company if 10 clips violated its policy.

Since then, YouTube has removed eight.

One of the creators involved had more than 473,000 subscribers at the time and its channel was therefore closed.

"The YouTube community guidelines prohibit, among other things, gratuitous violence, nudity, dangerous and illegal activities and hate speech," said a YouTube spokesperson.

"Creative formats such as video games can be difficult to evaluate, but when the content crosses the line and is brought to our attention, we take the necessary steps."

The videos included the computer-controlled character beaten, shot, fed to an alligator and dropped into a mine shaft.

The firm has left a clip called "Feminist Tying Pig" in which the suffragette is caught with a lasso, pulled to the ground and hands tied, without being killed.

The other remaining clip shows the woman receiving an unconscious punch.

Red Dead Redemption 2 garnered very positive reviews and reached a rating of 97 out of 100 for Metacritic, which includes critics.

Many non-playable characters in the game with 18 certificates may be attacked, but criticisms have been made against a decision authorizing the vulnerability of the suffragette because of the controversy that this could entail.

Suffragettes also appear in another part of the game, but attacking them at this point causes the mission to fail.

The BBC has asked the developer Rockstar Games to give his opinion.