YouTube Bans More Firearms Videos Amid Gun Debate

By Douglas MacMillan 

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 in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

The world's largest video site, a division of Alphabet Inc.'s Google, said this week it would prohibit all videos which 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 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 will begin enforcing in April.

YouTube already bans content explicitly promoting the sale of guns, a YouTube spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

"We routinely make updates and adjustments to our enforcement guidelines across all of our policies," the 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."

Write to Douglas MacMillan at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 21, 2018 15:41 ET (19:41 GMT)

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