(UnitedVoice.com) – Conservatives have repeatedly accused Big Tech of censoring their views in recent years. YouTube, owned by Google, recently changed its moderation policies regarding guns. That has sparked outrage among Second Amendment activists.
New Firearms Policy
Beginning on June 18, YouTube will prohibit certain content that shows people how to remove safety devices from firearms. Additionally, all content showing people using automatic firearms, homemade guns, and certain accessories will be age-restricted.
In a statement announcing the change, the company revealed that content is not allowed on the platform if it’s intended to create content to instruct viewers how to make guns, certain accessories, and ammunition or to sell any of those things. Content creators are also not allowed to begin live streams that show a person “holding, handling, or transporting” a gun.
The company further elaborated on the content that’s prohibited from the platform. It includes the sale or use of accessories that allow guns to fire as automatic weapons, bump stocks, drop-in auto sears, conversion kits, and Gatling triggers. Additionally, any content that instructs users how to manufacture high-capacity magazines, guns, ammunition, silencers/suppressors, enable a gun to fire like an automatic weapon, or convert guns to automatic weapons, is not allowed.
YouTube also provided examples of some of the content that’s prohibited; it includes links in the descriptions or titles that direct users to sites where restricted accessories are sold. Content that shows users how to make silencers out of oil cans, flashlights, or other items is also prohibited.
Activists Speak Out
Richard D. Hayes II, a Houston lawyer who co-hosts the Armed Attorneys channel, told The Epoch Times that YouTube has a history of reducing the visibility of Second Amendment content. He explained that his channel had “already experienced censorship,” and when he complained, representatives of the company weren’t responsive.
Hayes said that all users have to understand that YouTube’s “insidious mandate” would soon begin to impact all of the platform’s “content creators and supporters.”
The director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America, Aidan Johnston, demanded Congress launch an investigation into what happened to prompt the social media network to make the change. He accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of pressuring YouTube into doing so. Johnston also suggested President Joe Biden’s administration might have weaponized its White House Office of Gun Control to suppress Second Amendment content.
YouTube denied the allegations that there were ulterior motives, saying the moderation policies are occasionally reviewed and updated.
Copyright 2024, UnitedVoice.com
