YouTube has introduced tighter restrictions on videos relating to weapon tutorials and maintenance, prompting gun bloggers to move to an unconventional streaming service.
The Google-owned video sharing platform’s new policy for content creators bans footage that shows viewers how to make firearms and ammunition, as well as prohibiting videos that advertise weapons and accessories.
The policy also vetos footage of bump stock weapons, which are standard firearms converted into rapid-fire semi-automatic guns.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
Although the new guidelines don’t fully come into effect until April, several gun-related video makers have already had their channels banned for violating YouTube’s creator policy, says Ars Technica.
A group of prominent gun video bloggers believes the move is “an erosion of US citizens’ rights”, BBC News reports, with some channels moving over to Facebook and the pornography streaming service PornHub.
Dedicated gun channel InRange TV, which was among the first to switch to PornHub, said in a statement on its Facebook page that it would use the porn site as “a safe harbour for our content and for our viewers”.
It added: “We will not be seeking any monetisation from PornHub and do not know what their monetisation policies are.”
Responding to the policy backlash, a YouTube spokeswoman told Bloomberg that the service “routinely” makes updates to its content guidelines.
YouTube has “long prohibited” the promotion of firearms, the spokeswoman added, and says that owners of gun channels are notified well in advance of any policy updates.
