YouTube isn’t just mass-media though - it’s a general-purpose video hosting and sharing site.
I’m not familiar with the current story nor the work of those involved, but academics and researchers can and do use YouTube to share information between themselves - *if* this was, say, a highly technical or academic video with a specialised intended audience and YouTube took that down then that’s different compared to a heterodox (read: quack) researcher putting out a video intending to make their argument directly to laypersons.
I’m not familiar with the current story nor the work of those involved, but academics and researchers can and do use YouTube to share information between themselves - *if* this was, say, a highly technical or academic video with a specialised intended audience and YouTube took that down then that’s different compared to a heterodox (read: quack) researcher putting out a video intending to make their argument directly to laypersons.