Analysis | Under pressure, YouTube tightens age limits on gun videos (2024)

Under pressure, YouTube tightens age limits on gun videos

Video-sharing giant YouTube is expanding its restrictions against minors accessing gun videos after facing mounting pressure to clamp down on potentially harmful firearm material.

The platform updated its policy Tuesday to say content “showing the use of homemade firearms, automatic firearms, and certain firearm accessories will be age restricted” starting later this month, meaning it’s blocked for those under 18.

Spokesman Javier Hernandez said the move was “part of our continued efforts to maintain policies that reflect the current state of content on YouTube.”

The shift follows years of scrutiny from watchdog groups and Democratic officials, who accused the company of exposing children to dangerous videos.

In 2022, a group of Democratic senators pressured YouTube to crack down harder on videos showing users how to assemble untraceable “ghost guns” after an NBC News investigation found dozens of them. The Google-owned platform’s rules prohibit videos that “instruct viewers on how to make firearms, ammunition, and certain accessories.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) reiterated concerns about YouTube’s handling of ghost guns in April, writing in a letter that related videos were being “actively pushed by YouTube’s algorithms to minors who begin watching clips of video games.”

In 2023, the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), a Big Tech watchdog group, found that YouTube recommended violent and graphic gun videos to test accounts set up to mimic young boys. The company defended its policies in response, noting that it requires minors to get parental permission before using the site, in addition to its age restrictions for content.

The Everytown for Gun Safety nonprofit rebuked the company in response, calling on it to place age restrictions on firearm videos, including “content that glorifies school shootings, tactical military training videos, and videos that illustrate unsafe firearms handling practices.”

Over a year later, the company followed through on the recommendation, additionally banning “content showing how to remove safety devices.”

“We applaud YouTube for implementing these important common-sense fixes to their community guidelines, which will further limit dangerous videos and minimize firearm content for minors,” Bragg said in a statement Wednesday.

Justin Wagner, senior director of investigations at Everytown for Gun Safety, called the change “a step in the right direction.” He noted, however, that the “efficacy of this new policy lies in YouTube’s commitment to its implementation.”

“I’m glad to see that YouTube is taking our concerns about this content seriously, but it’s devastating to think about the lives that have been lost in the two years since we sent our letter while these harmful videos were available online,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of the lawmakers who led the 2022 letter.

TTP Director Katie Paul echoed the remarks, saying it was “not clear why it took the company so long to address the issue.” The group also dinged YouTube for rolling out the new policy “quietly,” with limited public fanfare as a little-noticed update to its policy page.

YouTube’s Hernandez said the company “notified creators of this change” on Tuesday.

While children’s online safety issues tend to be a uniting cause that draws bipartisan support in Washington, children’s exposure to gun videos is more politically polarizing.

Congressional efforts to scrutinize platforms’ firearm policies have been led largely by Democrats, who have long embraced tighter gun regulations more broadly. YouTube’s policy shift this week could stoke the ire of Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Gun Owners for America, a group that styles itself as the “no compromise” gun lobby, scorched YouTube’s decision Tuesday.

“Restricting access to adults only — for content that depicts wholly legal and constitutionally protected activity — is wrong, and it aims to push a sinister narrative to minors that firearms are evil,” said Erich Pratt, the group’s senior vice president.

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