YouTube Curbs Gun Videos -- WSJ
March 22 2018 - 3:02AM
Dow Jones News
By Douglas MacMillan
This article is being republished as part of our daily
reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S.
print edition of The Wall Street Journal (March 22, 2018).
YouTube said it would ban videos relating to the sale or
assembly of guns and certain gun accessories, as tech giants face
growing pressure to limit the promotion of firearms.
The world's largest video site, a division of Alphabet Inc.'s
Google, said this week it would prohibit all videos that link
directly to sites that sell guns or accessories known as bump
stocks, which allow certain firearms to fire as rapidly as machine
guns. Bloomberg News and the website Tubefilter reported the policy
shift, which YouTube posted on its website on Monday.
Videos showing how to build a gun or install bump-stock devices
will also be restricted under the new rules, which the company said
it would begin enforcing in April.
The move thrusts YouTube into a national debate inflamed by last
month's school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Protests against gun
violence have pressured U.S. businesses to distance themselves from
the gun industry and the National Rifle Association, the biggest
gun lobby group. At the same time, gun-rights activists have vowed
to protest businesses that take such action. The NRA didn't
immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google's new policy places broader restrictions on content
across YouTube, which has already banned videos explicitly
promoting the sale of guns for several years, a YouTube spokeswoman
said. The company began restricting videos advertising bump stock
devices last October, after the device was used in the massacre of
58 people at a Las Vegas music festival.
"We routinely make updates and adjustments to our enforcement
guidelines across all of our policies," the YouTube spokeswoman
said. "While we've long prohibited the sale of firearms, we
recently notified creators of updates we will be making around
content promoting the sale or manufacture of firearms and their
accessories."
Karl Kasarda, co-owner of InRange TV, an entertainment site with
firearm-related videos on YouTube, said the policy is written so
broadly it gives the company latitude to censor any content it
doesn't like. For example, he can't tell whether the new policy
prohibits videos showing how to properly load a magazine into a
gun.
"Their policies are not very clear cut and they are arbitrary,"
said Mr. Kasada. "You never know when you are going to get hit by
them."
A YouTube spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request
for comment.
Facebook Inc. bans individuals from using its social network to
buy or trade firearms, but allows firearm retailers to engage in
commercial activity, according to its website.
Write to Douglas MacMillan at douglas.macmillan@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 22, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)
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