YouTube’s Gun Video Tyranny

Video Channels Begin to Feel the Fallout From YouTube’s Firearm Content Restrictions YouTube is the land of people doing stupid stuff, cats, and, for firearms enthusiasts, guns — lots and lots of guns. From tutorials and reviews to footage of shooters just doing their thing, it’s all on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. For now. That’s because when a new YouTube gun video policy went into effect in April, just what is and isn’t taboo is far from settled. Instead of thousands of educational and informative videos on virtually any kind of weapon imaginable, YouTube could instead be home to more cats. The idea that firearms content, seen by many as both a First and Second Amendment issue, could be tossed by someone who knows nothing about gun culture has video producers entering digital survivalist mode. They aren’t playing a game of wait and see. They’re bracing for impact. “The entire industry uses YouTube as a repository of information. It’s huge,” said Jon Patton, whose channel and brand The Gun Collective has almost 130,000 YouTube subscribers and about 12.5 million views. “The same way Facebook could change elections, YouTube could silence an entire industry.” The Policy YouTube made the change quietly in late March, long before a woman opened fire at the company’s California headquarters killing herself and injuring three others. Rather than just prohibiting videos featuring the much maligned bumpstock, the new policy creates bans for specific conversions or perfectly legal accessories, and opens the door to sweeping […]

Click here to view original web page at YouTube’s Gun Video Tyranny