YouTube bans firearm sales and how-to videos, prompting backlash

[jpak]

Source: Portland Press Herald

YouTube, a popular media site for firearms enthusiasts, this week quietly introduced tighter restrictions on videos involving weapons, becoming the latest battleground in the U.S. gun-control debate.

YouTube will ban videos that promote or link to websites selling firearms and accessories, including bump stocks, which allow a semi-automatic rifle to fire faster. Additionally, YouTube said it will prohibit videos with instructions on how to assemble firearms. The video site, owned by Alphabet’s Google, has faced intense criticism for hosting videos about guns, bombs and other deadly weapons.

This is a screen image from a YouTube video posted in 2017. The new YouTube policies, including a ban on videos that instruct how to assemble firearms, will be enforced starting in April.

For many gun-rights supporters, YouTube has been a haven. A recent search on the site for “how to build a gun” yields 25 million results, though that includes items such as toys. At least one producer of gun videos saw its page suspended on Tuesday. Another channel opted to move its videos to an adult-content site, saying that will offer more freedom than YouTube.

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Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/03/21/youtube-bans-firearm-sales-and-how-to-videos-prompting-backlash/

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Buh bye gun nuts

[7962]

1. Private company, so its up to them. nt

[LiberalFighter]

2. Guns & Smut --- Hmm

[pangaia]

3. Yeah that was cute.. LOL

[dogknob]

5. Pretty good fit. Probably a lot of crossover n/t

[Dennis Donovan]

4. One of the banned YT channels sayd they'll now upload their videos to PornHub...

...not a joke, from that same story!

InRange TV, another channel devoted to firearms, wrote on its Facebook page that it would begin uploading videos to PornHub, an adult content website.

“YouTube’s newly released released vague and one-sided firearms policy makes it abundantly clear that YouTube cannot be counted upon to be a safe harbor for a wide variety of views and subject matter,” InRange TV wrote. “PornHub has a history of being a proactive voice in the online community, as well as operating a resilient and robust video streaming platform.” PornHub didn’t immediately return a request for comment on the matter.

[Aristus]

6. Well, guns are basically porn fetishes to those fucksticks anyway...

[SansACause]

7. Gun porn, sex porn

What's the difference really?

[PatrickforO]

10. Hmm... OK, InRange, but how about we

try to implement some policies that make our SCHOOLS into SAFE HARBORS for our CHILDREN and GRANDCHILDREN???

[47of74]

20. There is an upside for Florida Man.

Next time his S.O. catches him watching spank-tro-vision he can now claim that he went to PornHub to watch videos on firearms.

[Soxfan58]

25. Long, hard phalic shafts

Slowly being pulled up to their face. Perfect fit!!!!!!!!!!

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. YouTube gun ban drives bloggers to PornHub

Many firearms enthusiasts noticed that some of their videos had been removed from the video-sharing website and some had their channels suspended.

Prominent gun video-bloggers said the move was an erosion of US citizens' rights, and some said they would move their content to PornHub instead.
...
Karl Kasarda and Ian McCollum, who run the gun review site InRangeTV, said they had started posting their videos on Facebook and pornography site PornHub.

"We will not be seeking any monetisation from PornHub... we are merely looking for a safe harbour for our content and for our viewers," the pair said in a statement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43500714

LOL. How appropriate.

[marble falls]

8. youtube is developing a conscience. Next it can boot Nazis and racists, too.

[Virtual Burlesque]

17. Busness organizations do not develop a conscience ...

... but the well-run businesses make sure they quickly shed any negative connotations acquired in the minds of their customers.

[Ferrets are Cool]

9. Damn, this headline makes me happy. nt

[getagrip_already]

11. they've been banning lots of channels lately...

anything tagged as drug culture, including cannabis advocacy, have been getting deleted. They have a three strike rule and your channel is permanently gone. They use bots to analyze content, and channels can get three strikes in a day. buh-buh.

It has hit channels that really don't break any rules, but the algorythms are brutal.

[mpcamb]

12. Start taking down names on the back-lashers, before trhey head to the nearest school.

Iknow that's harsh and all, but they're the ones who do that sh--!

[Honeycombe8]

13. Great news!!! I had no idea all that stuff was on Youtube. Youtube's big enough to withstand...

Youtube is big enough to withstand the anger of gun nuts. There are plenty of gun owners who want responsible ownership by adults and will accept keeping the nutty stuff out of the hands of youth and wackadoodles.

[uppityperson]

14. K&R

[flibbitygiblets]

15. I've been surprised to learn how many ways there are to purchase guns. YOUTUBE? Really?

Kroger? Fred Meyer? How did I miss that? In this state (Oregon) hard liquor (anything other than beer & wine) has to be purchased at specially-regulated, state sanctioned liquor stores. Same with pot (and don't get me started on how many murderous pot smokers there are out there).

Guns? Sounds like you might be able to order some at Carl's Jr drive thru. Something not right here.

[SammyWinstonJack]

19. Murderous pot smokers there are out there...wtf?

Or was that

[flibbitygiblets]

22. Sorry, I figured the irony was obvious

Never heard of anyone high on just pot doing any such thing. Yet the stigma lingers.

[Wednesdays]

34. Reefer Madness lives. eot

[Calista241]

16. Just wait until they decide to censor something we happen to like.

I am against censorship in any form or fashion, even by private companies.

[bitterross]

18. Thank you! I think this is a very bad thing.

Youtube may be a private company but they are the defacto authority in the case of these things.

They already clamped down on channels hosted by LGBTQ people.

While they do have the right to do this I think it is very bad. As you properly point out - wait until they ban something WE support. Like pro-choice channels or anti-Republican channels. They have every right to do so.

[flibbitygiblets]

23. I respect your opinion, but I see it more as a matter of the ads being offensive

As consumers, we have the ability to push social policy with our dollars. The gun companies own our elected representatives, so pressuring our retailers is all way really have left.

[HopeAgain]

26. Private and censor don't go together

Only governments can commit censorship. Do you think YouTube should allow ISIS videos? FaceBook and YouTube are nothing more than over sized billboard companies, they have grown so large, in part, because they had no standards to speak of. They have monetized a lot of ignorance and hate.

[LanternWaste]

29. I censor myself everyday. Anyone who denied doing so as well

"I am against censorship in any form or fashion..."

I censor myself everyday. DU censors posts every day. Science is brutal in censoring irrational or inaccurate premises.

Any one person who denied doing so as well would be, I think, less than honest-- with themselves if not everyone around them. I think you're simply allowing your bias to overwhelm rational thought.




"Just wait until I decide to censor something I happen to like... to avoid offending someone." Certainly doesn't assist your narrative when practical or relevant qualifiers are added.

[cp]

21. Good for YouTube

[Sherman A1]

31. Agreed

Every small step makes a difference.

[NickB79]

24. I could totally see a GunTube alternative site popping up.

Or the NRA hosting videos on their website to boost hits and advertising revenue.

[HopeAgain]

27. Which is fine

But then we have a clearly defined bad actor in the free market of ideas. FaceBook and YouTube should be held accountable for monetizing bad content.

[dembotoz]

28. To drive them underground may not be all good

U tube has some standards and public scrutiny.
The blending of gun humpers with underground militia types could be very bad.

[Chakaconcarne]

30. Sounds like a win win for gun fondlers.....

Honey I only go there to watch gun making videos......

[apnu]

33. The NRA has millions to blow on elections.

Surely they have the means to make their own video hosting service like Yahoo. Hell, they don't even have to build servers for it, they can leverage AWS.

My point is, if gun humpers are pissed about Yahoo's policy change, they can go make their own gun humping Shangri-la, nobody is stopping them.