I'm unaware of any evidence consistent with this version of how things work there. By all accounts, YouTube are unlenient with bans and blacklistings. Can you please cite a source?
By all account YouTube are arbitrary with bans and blockings. That's not the same as unlenient.
The standard example of the phenomenon I'm describing is from Twitter. They successfully keep nazi content out of German twitter, but not the rest of the world. That suggests that Twitter's moderation is partially constrained by their own policies, not just technical ability. I don't think this is a far fetched understanding of how any social network works.