YouTube Bans Firearms Demo Videos

Polly Mosendz and Mark Bergen, reporting for Bloomberg:

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 Inc.’s Google, has faced intense criticism for hosting videos about guns, bombs and other deadly weapons.

Friendly reminder: this is in no way a violation of free speech. YouTube is a private platform, not a public one.

★ Wednesday, 21 March 2018