Google Continues to Restrict Access to Gun Content

By Ready to Fire News On Sep 28, 2018

Have you noticed something different in your YouTube feed or Google search results lately? No? Well, that’s because you can’t necessarily see the change unless you are actively looking for it.

Google, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to censor search results on their two major platforms. Yes, they own YouTube — meaning they essentially control America’s two largest search engines. This gives them a great deal of power, especially when you consider the fact that they are run by some pretty left-leaning leaders. It started with YouTube slowly reducing the number of “recommended” channels that feature content of which they don’t approve. It’s slowly becoming something even more insidious.

When you search on Google, YouTube videos are often high in the search results. Did you ever notice that doesn’t happen when you search for “guns”? That’s probably because around April 2018, YouTube enacted a widespread ban on any videos that violate their new gun-related content policies. This includes all kinds of instructional videos such as how to make suppressors, how-to’s on manufacturing firearms, firearms conversions and more. They’ve even stopped allowing some gun videos to have advertising applied to them — seriously restricting the ability of the content creators to gain revenue from their work.

Apparently, users flagging videos as inappropriate is no longer enough. YouTube has now hired thousands of human moderators who will determine whether or not content is “appropriate” for consumption by others. It’s difficult to say whether or not this has had a widespread effect, but you can only guess what type of moderators were hired for the video giant — headquartered in San Bruno, California. It’s unlikely that the right-facing organization has put together a solid breadth of individuals from across the country to make fair and balanced decisions about what crosses the often-fuzzy line.

It’s not unusual for YouTube stars with a massive following to make their primary income from the video-sharing site — mostly based off of advertising revenue. Major sponsors such as Coca-Cola were inadvertently advertising on videos that they didn’t feel met their core demographic, causing them to back off of the platform in a big way. This hit YouTube, and ultimately Google, where it hurts: squarely in their revenue. To combat this effect, YouTube has started vetting which platforms and content are “allowed” to gain revenue in the form of direct advertising. These channels were effectively “demonetized,” meaning they were no longer eligible for the lucrative YouTube advertising opportunity. This shift caused a direct hit to content creators and viewers alike, as the videos were no longer promoted by YouTube as “up next” or “sponsored” content.

It’s unfortunate that the censorship of gun-related videos is happening at the highest level, even underneath the subconscious of everyday Americans. You now have to know the type of content that you’re looking for, instead of trusting that Google and YouTube will provide it to you based on your previous viewing or searching history.

~ Ready to Fire News