fbpx

Google-owned YouTube has continued showing gun-related videos to minors even after it claimed to have tightened restrictions, according to an alarming watchdog report published Wednesday.

YouTube updated its firearm policy effective June 18 to implement age restrictions on the “use of homemade firearms, automatic firearms, and certain firearm accessories.” However, videos that violated the policy were still accessible to minors earlier this month, a Tech Transparency Project investigation found.

A test YouTube account set up for a fictional 14-year-old was presented with videos that should have been blocked under the policy. YouTube’s search autofill feature, which suggests potential queries to users, also “pointed a minor to restricted gun content,” according to TTP’s report.

Videos shown to the account included Glock “switches,” which can convert a semi-automatic handgun into fully automatic, 3D-printed weapons known as “ghost guns” and homemade silencers such as a handgun “firing with a plastic soda bottle duct-taped to the gun barrel.”

Menu