YouTube is changing its rules for videos with guns. They will be age-restricted, and some will be banned outright. Content depicting homemade and automatic firearms will be banned for viewers under the age of 18, and safety device removal training videos will be banned regardless of age. The new policy will come into effect on June 18.
«Starting June 18, 2024, certain content showing how to remove safety devices will be prohibited. Content that demonstrates the use of homemade firearms, automatic firearms, and certain firearm accessories will have an age restriction of», — the warning on page YouTube policy.
The ban will apply to the actual use of firearms and will not apply to video games, movie footage or other artistic content. The platform may also make exceptions for content that is of public interest, such as military or police footage, news or war videos.
In a comment for Engadget YouTube spokesperson Javier Hernandez said: «These updates to our firearms policy are part of our ongoing efforts to maintain policies that reflect the current state of content on YouTube. For example, 3D printing has become more accessible in recent years, so we are expanding our restrictions on content related to homemade firearms. We regularly review our guidelines and consult with external experts to make sure we draw the line in the right place».
The change comes a year after the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), a nonprofit watchdog group, accused YouTube of recommending gun-related content to several accounts that the organization has created on behalf of children. The accounts watched videos about computer games with shooting and tracked which videos YouTube would recommend to them afterwards.
The service allegedly recommended content about guns and shooting. Among the recommendations were videos of a young girl shooting a pistol, tutorials on how to turn pistols into fully automatic weapons. Some of the content was monetized through advertising.
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