YouTube bans all gun demonstration videos

[Mountain Man]

Source: YouTube Bans All Gun Demonstration Videos

YouTube is entering the gun control debate with a new ban on videos which demo firearms or link to websites selling firearms or firearm accessories.
The move to ban firearm demos dovetails with the media platform’s desire to “prohibit videos with instructions on how to assemble firearms.”

Ironically, guns built at home have not been part of the mass public attacks that have drawn national attention over the past months and years, but guns acquired at retail via background checks have been.

Bloomberg reports that YouTube issued a statement in coordination with new prohibitions, saying, “We routinely make updates and adjustments to our enforcement guidelines across all of our policies. 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.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...ration-videos/

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This is censorship at its worst.

[Roy]

This is censorship at its worst.

This is not censorship.

[Sparko]

Well as a business, they can censor what they want. Just like we do here at theologyweb. If it was a government run platform then they would be in violation.

Free speech only stops the government from shutting you up.

People can "vote" with their business. If Youtube gets to the point where they are alienating enough people, they will lose advertisers and members which will either get them to change their policies or be replaced by some other more open platform.

[Mountain Man]

This is not censorship.

It is literally censorship.

[Mountain Man]

Well as a business, they can censor what they want. Just like we do here at theologyweb. If it was a government run platform then they would be in violation.

Free speech only stops the government from shutting you up.

People can "vote" with their business. If Youtube gets to the point where they are alienating enough people, they will lose advertisers and members which will either get them to change their policies or be replaced by some other more open platform.

Yes, there are several video channel startups that could benefit greatly from this action. I understand that what YouTube is doing is technically legal, but the question is whether or not any of those startups has a fair chance of challenging their dominance or if YouTube meets the legal definition of a monopoly.

[Sparko]

Yes, there are several video channel startups that could benefit greatly from this action. I understand that what YouTube is doing is technically legal, but the question is whether or not any of those startups has a fair chance of challenging their dominance or if YouTube meets the legal definition of a monopoly.

There was a time when Myspace was the social media king. Now where is it?

Where is Compuserve? America Online?

[37818]

It is literally censorship.

Yeah. It is legal censorship. It is not the federal government.

[Raphael]

That's really going to suck for Dr Matt at Demolition Ranch. He has been quietly moving his videos across to Twitch as a backup.

[mikewhitney]

We will start needing video sites and search engines that are inclusive of the interests of freedom-seekers, of people concerned about the future of our country.

I wondered in the past why people hosted videos on youtube instead of their own sites. It is becoming apparent that people can't trust their videos to remain hosted on youtube -- so that videos will have to at least be stored or shared elsewhere.

[Zymologist]

True tolerance will only come about through the silencing (by force, if necessary) of dissenting viewpoints.

[Mountain Man]

We will start needing video sites and search engines that are inclusive of the interests of freedom-seekers, of people concerned about the future of our country.

I wondered in the past why people hosted videos on youtube instead of their own sites. It is becoming apparent that people can't trust their videos to remain hosted on youtube -- so that videos will have to at least be stored or shared elsewhere.

There are other video services out there, but YouTube is most popular simply by virtue of being the first, or at least the first to capture the public's attention in a big way. It will be interesting to see if any of YouTube's competitors are able to rise to the occasion and challenge the 800 pound gorilla.

[Terraceth]

People can "vote" with their business. If Youtube gets to the point where they are alienating enough people, they will lose advertisers and members which will either get them to change their policies or be replaced by some other more open platform.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if advertisers were the reason for this, and YouTube is doing this to assure advertisers their ads won't play during such videos.

I suppose this could be accomplished by simply disabling such videos for monetization, but banning them outright makes it harder for people to sneak them through for monetization.

[firstfloor]

Yeah, we don’t want our kids watching gun-porn.

[Mountain Man]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if advertisers were the reason for this, and YouTube is doing this to assure advertisers their ads won't play during such videos.

I suppose this could be accomplished by simply disabling such videos for monetization, but banning them outright makes it harder for people to sneak them through for monetization.

I really doubt it has anything to do with advertisers.

One guy had an editorial with an interesting point: What about all of the other videos on YouTube that depict guns, like music videos and movie trailers? Is YouTube going to ban all those as well? Or is it just people presenting safe demonstrations and instructional videos?

[Raphael]