Tifa Lockhart Content Blocked from YouTube’s Auto-Fill Suggestions

Spencer Baculi   |  

Jul 12, 2019

• Share on Gab
• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Flipboard
• Share on Reddit
• Share on News Break
• Share via Email

It appears that YouTube has begun blocking search results for Final Fantasy 7’s Tifa Lockhart from the platform’s autocomplete suggestions.

The change to YouTube’s autosuggestion algorithm is apparent to any user, as searching for any term relating to the iconic brawler from Final Fantasy 7 returns zero autocomplete results relating to the character. This includes terms such as ‘Tifa’ (which presents autocomplete results for several items, none of which are related to Final Fantasy), ‘Tifa Lockhart’, and ‘Tifa Final Fantasy 7’:

In contrast, searching for other characters from the game such as ‘Cloud Strife’, ‘Sephiroth’, and ‘Aerith’ presents the audience with a full list of suggestions, all of which are related to Final Fantasy and video games:

While the ‘Tifa’ related search terms do not autopopulate on YouTube, related suggestions are still presented in the search results of the search engine owned by YouTube’s parent company, Google. Some fans have speculated that this modification to search results was made due to the ongoing discussions regarding the ‘tightening’ of Tifa’s bust size in the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Remake. However, as of writing, there has been no official response or explanation from YouTube regarding this change to their autosuggestion algorithm.