Changing the Channel: Investigating YouTube’s New Efforts to Stop Gun Sales

YouTube has long been awash in violent firearms content and the home to growing communities of gun extremists. This content is so widespread on the platform that it carries its own moniker: guntube.

Over the last several years, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund (“Everytown”) has advocated for YouTube to do more to make its platform safer. As reported by The New York Times, “in June [2024], under pressure from Everytown, a gun safety advocacy group, YouTube announced it would restrict certain firearm content for viewers younger than 18 and ban videos that demonstrate modifications and features on particular firearms.”¹Thomas Gibbons-Neff, “How YouTube is Changing American Gun Culture”, Feb. 5, 2025, NY Times, available at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/gun-youtube-firearm-videos.html?searchResultPosition=1. Perhaps even more significantly, at the same time, YouTube started to take steps to meaningfully enforce its longstanding prohibition on content with links to firearms sales, finally assigning strikes and channel bans when video creators link to or otherwise direct viewers to a firearms company. This is also a reform long championed by Everytown:²YouTube and Gun Content: A Dangerous Combination for Kids and Teens, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, May 16, 2023, https://everytownsupportfund.org/youtube-gun-content-dangerous-combination-kids-teens/ These pathways to direct gun sales from guntube videos not only help the gun industry sell guns, but they help toxic guntube creators rake in sponsorship money from industry players. 

While stopping short of more robust recommendations³YouTube and Gun Content: A Dangerous Combination for Kids and Teens, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, May 16, 2023, https://everytownsupportfund.org/youtube-gun-content-dangerous-combination-kids-teens/
.; New Everytown Report: Content on YouTube Provides Tactical Firearms Training Accessible to Extremists Like Buffalo Shooter, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, Aug. 12, 2022, https://everytownsupportfund.org/press/new-everytown-report-content-on-youtube-provides-tactical-firearms-training-accessible-to-extremists-like-buffalo-shooter/ from Everytown to clean up the platform, these changes have the potential to disrupt an ecosystem which currently enables toxic creators to make a living by spreading extremist ideology and minimizing the causes and effects of gun violence. In particular, the ability to sell and link to gun sales on the platform is an important channel through which firearms manufacturers and retailers fund these creators, and allows the industry to target specific communities and demographics on the platform. 

In order to assess whether YouTube is meaningfully enforcing its prohibition on content with links to firearms sales, Everytown analyzed more than 78,000 recent guntube videos. This review indicates that while there has been progress in discouraging creators from posting links to websites where firearms and other accessories can be purchased, there were thousands of such videos still on the platform even after the enhanced enforcement of YouTube’s prohibition on such links. This report examines the contours of YouTube’s policies around guns, and whether YouTube has actually followed through with the commitment to remove content that links to gun sales.

I. An Overview of YouTube and Firearms Content Moderation

A. Community Guidelines

YouTube has long promulgated Community Guidelines that govern what content is prohibited or restricted on the platform. These guidelines cover everything from spam to misinformation to violent content. In 2008, YouTube introduced a three-strikes rule for most Community Guidelines violations.⁴YouTube Policy Enforcement Changes, Apr.17, 2008 https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/youtube-policy-enforcement-changes/ If a channel receives three strikes within ninety days, the guidelines state that the channel will be terminated.⁵Community Guidelines strike basics on YouTube, YouTube Help Center, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2802032?sjid=10085081348974553437-NC The platform also gives users a clean slate after six months without a second violation.⁶Community Guidelines strike basics on YouTube, YouTube Help Center, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2802032?sjid=10085081348974553437-NC 

YouTube’s Firearms Policy states that: 

Content intended to sell firearms, instruct viewers on how to make firearms, ammunition, and certain accessories, or instruct viewers on how to install those accessories is not allowed on YouTube. YouTube shouldn’t be used as a platform to sell firearms or accessories noted below. YouTube also doesn’t allow live streams that show someone holding, handling, or transporting a firearm.

(alternative pull quote) YouTube’s Firearms Policy states that:

Content intended to sell firearms, instruct viewers on how to make firearms, ammunition, and certain accessories, or instruct viewers on how to install those accessories is not allowed on YouTube. YouTube shouldn’t be used as a platform to sell firearms or accessories noted below. YouTube also doesn’t allow live streams that show someone holding, handling, or transporting a firearm.¹YouTube Community Guidelines, Firearms Policy, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7667605?hl=en

The prohibited firearms accessories that are specified in YouTube’s policy include: 

1. Accessories that enable a firearm to simulate automatic fire; 
2. Accessories that convert a firearm to automatic fire, such as: bump stocks, gatling triggers, drop-in auto sears, or conversion kits
3. High-capacity magazines or belts carrying more than 30 rounds.⁷Id.

The prohibited firearms accessories that are specified in YouTube’s policy include: 

1. Accessories that enable a firearm to simulate automatic fire;
2. Accessories that convert a firearm to automatic fire, such as: bump stocks, gatling triggers, drop-in auto sears, or conversion kits
3. High-capacity magazines or belts carrying more than 30 rounds.¹Id.

YouTube guidance further elaborates on this policy, and prohibits providing instructions on how to build high-capacity magazines, install accessories that simulate automatic fire (such as Glock switches or bump stocks) or manufacture homemade silencers. And more specifically, YouTube provides several illustrative examples of prohibited content to video creators:

1. Links in the title or description of your video to sites where firearms or the accessories noted above are sold. You can link to sites that discuss or review the items as long as those sites don’t sell or give away those items directly.
2. Displaying a firearm with the intention to sell that firearm via private sale. This includes giving the seller’s phone number, email address, or other contact information. Showing users step-by-step instructions on how to finish a lower receiver in order to complete fabrication of a firearm.
3. Showing users how to make a silencer out of a flashlight, oil can, solvent catcher or other parts.
4. Showing users how to install a bump stock, or install a comparable accessory built to enable simulated automatic fire.
5. Live streams that feature someone holding or handling a firearm, regardless of whether or not they are firing it. Note: this does not include firearms in video games.
6. Live streams that feature someone transporting firearms from place to place, such as by carrying them or traveling with them by car, truck, or other vehicle. Note: this does not include firearms in video games

B. 2024 Changes to Firearms Guidelines & Content Moderation

In June 2024, YouTube made various changes to its Community Guidelines with respect to firearms.⁸YouTube implementing tougher policy on gun videos to protect youth, CBS News, Jun. 7, 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/youtube-toughens-policy-gun-videos-google/ The platform added a new guideline, prohibiting videos that provide “instructions on how to remove certain firearm safety devices, such as a device that limits the release of a magazine.”⁹YouTube Community Guidelines, Firearms Policy, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7667605?hl=en. Additionally, YouTube announced age-gating for viewers under the age of eighteen for certain firearms content, including videos showing fully automatic machine guns and the devices used to create them, privately made firearms (including those that are 3D-printed), high-capacity magazines, and privately made silencers.¹⁰YouTube Community Guidelines, Firearms Policy, https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7667605?hl=en. (“Age-restricted content: Sometimes content doesn’t violate our policies, but it may not be appropriate for viewers under 18.” This includes “content showing use of a homemade firearm (e.g. 3D printed gun), an automatic firearm, or any of the below accessories: Accessories that enable a firearm to simulate automatic fire; Accessories that convert a firearm to automatic fire, such as: bump stocks, gatling triggers, drop-in auto sears, or conversion kits; High capacity magazines; Homemade silencers/suppressors.”) This was the first time YouTube age-gated firearms content.¹¹Yet, alarmingly, a report by the Tech Transparency Project, months after the announced policy, found videos accessible by an account for a 14-year-old user that depicted 3D-printed guns, high-capacity magazines, and machine guns, among others. Tech Transparency Project, “Spot Check: YouTube’s New Restrictions on Gun Videos,” August 27, 2024, https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/spot-check-youtubes-new-age-restrictions-on-gun-videos.

In the summer of 2024, YouTube also started to take steps to meaningfully enforce its longstanding prohibition on content with links to firearms sales, finally assigning strikes and channel bans when video creators link to or otherwise direct viewers to a firearms company. On August 21, 2024, representatives from YouTube publicly confirmed that the platform was enforcing existing rules that prohibit videos from promoting a gun-related company as a sponsor or directing viewers to websites where firearms or certain accessories could be purchased.¹²Stephen Gutowski, YouTube Says Links to Gun, Ammo Dealers Will Trigger Channel Bans, The Reload, Aug. 21, 2024, https://thereload.com/youtube-says-links-to-gun-ammo-dealers-will-trigger-channel-bans/ It is unclear when precisely in the summer of 2024 YouTube started to change its enforcement approach specific to this prohibition: one leading gun influencer made the claim that the change occurred in June of 2024, while public reporting of the change did not happen until August 2024. But it is clear that the policy had been in effect for years¹³Dave Maccar, No, YouTube Hasn’t Banned Firearms Content and Sponsorships, at Least Not Yet, Outdoor Life, Sept. 13, 2024, https://www.outdoorlife.com/guns/youtube-firearms-content-ban/ and indeed, that element of YouTube’s policies had existed at least as far back as 2018.¹⁴Policies on content featuring firearms, YouTube, Mar. 20, 2018, (archived) https://web.archive.org/web/20180320145026/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7667605?hl=en#:~:text=Starting%20June%2018%2C%202024%2C%20certain,accessories%20will%20be%20age%20restricted. Robust and consistent enforcement of this prohibition could have a significant impact on how the firearms industry uses YouTube—potentially cutting off extremist and toxic influencers from the deep resources of the gun industry.

II. Is YouTube Enforcing its New Community Guidelines with Respect to Links to Gun Sales?

Everytown has repeatedly found that YouTube has not consistently enforced existing Community Guidelines with respect to firearms. Over the last several years, reporting indicates that videos violative of YouTube guidelines have been allowed to remain on the platform, in some instances for years. For example, in 2021, Everytown identified dozens of apparently violative videos that taught users how to construct deadly, untraceable ghost guns at home.¹⁵Ltr. to Susan Wojkicki, Dec. 6, 2021, Everytown, https://everytownsupportfund.org/documents/2021/12/youtube-ghost-guns-letter.pdf/ Collectively, these videos had been viewed over 5.7 million times and the vast majority were on the platform for years, some dating as far back as 2015.¹⁶Id. In 2022, another Everytown report identified over 200 videos with over 40 million views that appeared to violate YouTube guidelines on the construction, modification, or sale of firearms.¹⁷Armed Extremism in Buffalo, Everytown Research, Aug. 12, 2022 https://everytownresearch.org/report/armed-extremism-buffalo- shooting/#recommendations-for-a-safer-you-tube-as-it-pertains-to-guns For years, videos that taught users how to install a Glock switch, a piece of plastic that illegally converts a handgun into a machine gun, could be readily found on YouTube. Additionally, in 2023, a report by the Tech Transparency Project found that YouTube’s algorithm was recommending graphic videos to minors that depict school shootings, in violation of the platform’s policies.¹⁸YouTube Leads Young Gamers to Videos of Guns, School Shootings, Tech Transparency Project, May 16, 2023 https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/youtube-leads-young-gamers-to-videos-of-guns-school

A. Quantitative Analysis of YouTube’s Stepped-Up Enforcement Efforts to Prevent Gun Sales on the Platform

In order to evaluate whether YouTube was living up to its commitment to prevent videos directing viewers to websites where guns can be purchased, Everytown analyzed a large data set of YouTube videos published over the course of 2023 and 2024. Starting in September 2024, Everytown compiled a list of more than 78,000 videos (including channels’ “shorts”) uploaded by roughly 500 gun-related YouTube channels from 2023 through 2024. The descriptions of those videos were reviewed for links to nearly 90 websites that offer the sale of products listed in YouTube’s Firearms policy: firearms, high-capacity magazines carrying more than 30 rounds, or accessories that enable a firearm to simulate or convert to automatic fire. The process for identifying those videos included expanding shortened and affiliate links.

Everytown’s analysis identified 3,259 videos posted across 84 channels between January 2023 and December 2024 which linked to 50 different sites that sell items prohibited under YouTube’s Firearms policy. Because the collection of videos began in September 2024 and continued on through the end of the year, that meant that the videos were still available after YouTube’s renewed enforcement of this policy was public.¹⁹It is important to note that some number of these videos have subsequently been taken down or modified to no longer be violative after our analysis was conducted: a manual review of 138 randomly selected violative videos from the period indicates that since the data was captured between September and December 2024, two videos are no longer on the platform and 15 videos, or roughly 11 percent, have since been modified to no longer link to prohibited retail sites. 

The analysis finds that YouTube’s revised enforcement approach is making a significant dent in the problem. The monthly number of newly uploaded videos with links to sites where firearms or prohibited accessories can be purchased last peaked at 215 in April 2024 and decreased through the end of the year. From January 2023 until the public confirmation of the renewed firearm policy enforcement in August 2024, there were an average of five videos with violative links posted every day. Between the announcement and the end of 2024, the daily average of videos with violative links was nearly a third lower.²⁰Of note, the decline would be even more pronounced if one pegged the change to June or July of 2024 (as opposed to August). As discussed previously, in the absence of definitive knowledge of when the change was implemented by YouTube over the summer, we use the month of public reporting on the issue: August 2024. 

Videos with Links to Sites that Sell Items Prohibited Under YouTube’s Firearms Policy

Despite the positive development that the number of videos with links to sites where users can buy firearms and dangerous accessories has decreased since the announcement of the renewed enforcement, months after the supposed start of the renewed enforcement, thousands of videos that violate YouTube’s firearms guidelines were still available on the platform. And this is not just an issue of old videos not being taken down. More than 400 of the violative videos identified were published in the few months between the announcement of the renewed enforcement and the end of 2024. 

Of note, three-quarters of all of the videos with violative links between January 2023 and December 2024 were posted by just ten channels. One channel, Gun Stock Reviews, accounted for nearly one-third and even after the announcement of the renewed enforcement, was still posting a video with links to sites that sold prohibited items nearly once a day. Of the 20 channels with the largest number of violative videos, half posted fewer videos on average after the policy change. However, 17 still continued to post such links, even if most did so at a slower pace.

Top 20 Channels by Videos with Prohibited Links: Newly Uploaded Videos Before And After Renewed Enforcement Was Confirmed

Everytown’s analysis shows that YouTube was used to promote the websites of at least 50 manufacturers and retailers of firearms and prohibited accessories. That includes more than 25 whose websites were linked to in the hundreds of videos published after the renewed enforcement was publicly confirmed.

For example, in 2023 and 2024, more than 1,160 videos directed users to firearm accessory manufacturer Magpul. That includes nearly 150 videos since the new enforcement policy was announced. Among other items, Magpul offers multiple high-capacity magazines with a capacity of greater than 30 rounds for both assault rifles and handguns.²¹Magpul, Magazines, https://magpul.com/firearm-accessories/pmags.html?product_list_order=price&product_list_dir=desc

There were more than 500 videos which linked to Primary Arms, a firearm optics company that also sells firearms and other accessories on its website. In addition to high-capacity magazines with a capacity of more than 60 rounds,²²Primary Arms, Magazines Products, https://www.primaryarms.com/in-stock/false/magazine-capacity/50,60,65?order=onlinecustomerprice:desc&keywords=magazines Primary Arms offers assault rifles like the Daniel Defense DDM4 V7,²³Primary Arms, Daniel Defense, https://www.primaryarms.com/daniel-defense-ddm4v7-rifle-16in-mfr-xs-m-lok-rail-mil-spec-5.56 infamous for its use in the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas.²⁴Ltr. to Samuel Levine, Everytown Law, Jul. 15, 2022, https://everytownlaw.org/documents/2022/07/daniel-defense-ftc-complaint.pdf/

Other large firearms brands like Palmetto State Armory and Brownells were also in the top ten of most-linked. In fact, across the more than 3,000 videos with violative links, just 10 retailers were linked to in more than 80 percent of the videos with violative links. This concentration of violative videos is important as it points to the opportunity for YouTube to make a significant dent in videos that violate their firearm policies simply by proactively moderating for links to these select number of sites.

At least 20 of the 84 channels posting videos with links to websites selling prohibited items were actually the owners of those sites themselves. For instance, firearms retailer Sportsman’s Guide published more than 160 videos in 2023 and 2024 that linked to its website, where users can purchase firearms, including assault weapons²⁵Sportsman’s Guide, Semiautomatic Rifles, https://www.sportsmansguide.com/productlist/guns/rifles/semi-automatic?d=185&c=30&s=706&sb=phl and high-capacity magazines capable of holding more than 30 rounds.²⁶Sportsman’s Guide, Gun Magazines and Clips, https://www.sportsmansguide.com/productlist/shooting/gun-magazines-clips/31?d=223&c=121&magazine_capacity=31%2B

B. Guntube Reaction to YouTube Enforcement

YouTube’s more robust enforcement of this policy has caused a stir in the guntube ecosystem. In just the past few months, guntubers with violative videos have already announced changes to how they intend to use the platform, or that they were leaving it altogether.²⁷X, Guns.com, Sept.16, 2024, https://x.com/Guns_com/status/1835671639691788453 Indeed, several prominent guntubers have claimed that YouTube demonetized²⁸Why we Quit YouTube After 2,341 Videos and 392,000 Subscribers, Guns.com, Sep. 17, 2024, https://www.guns.com/news/2024/09/16/why-we-quit-youtube or issued strikes against their channels.²⁹David Ingram, As YouTube cracks down on machine on machine gun videos, some ‘’GunTubers’’ are panicking, NBC News, Oct. 24, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/gun-youtube-creators-are-leaving-platform-company-cracks-firearm- video-rcna173694 For example, Hickok45, one of the most popular guntube channels, with nearly 8 million subscribers, posted a video on July 16, 2024, claiming that they were at risk of “losing everything.”³⁰Hickok45, Bad News, YouTube, Jul. 16, 2024, https://youtu.be/-KWxaOmVNBE?si=0YuxDECm_TtFD7jk Similarly, guntuber Jon Patton of the GunCollective stated in an interview that while YouTube had long prohibited links to firearms sellers in video captions, YouTube now considered spoken website names, or links within the video itself, as violative.³¹The Reload, ‪@TheGunCollective‬’’s Jon Patton on YouTube’s Latest Crackdown on Firearms Content, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cvQ5bpEpvQ  On September 17, 2024, online firearms retailers Guns.com publicly announced it would be leaving YouTube, claiming that the platforms “censorship and restrictions have increased significantly in the past year” and that the retailer’s own channel had faced “reduced organic reach, multiple violations and strikes, and two suspensions spanning nearly a month.”³²Why we Quit YouTube After 2,341 Videos and 392,000 Subscribers, Guns.com, Sep. 17, 2024, https://www.guns.com/news/2024/09/16/why-we-quit-youtube. 

The impact of this stepped-up enforcement of the prohibition of gun sales on YouTube goes beyond specific gun influencers—it directly impacts the gun industry, who has utilized the guntube ecosystem to market its products. Many gun channels make hundreds of thousands of dollars from the gun industry itself through sponsorship deals: retailers or gun manufacturers pay guntubers, and in exchange, their channels share links to those sponsors.³³David Ingram, As YouTube cracks down on machine gun videos, some ‘’GunTubers’’ are panicking, NBC News, Oct. 20, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/gun-youtube-creators-are-leaving-platform-company-cracks-firearm-video-rcna173694 In an interview, Patton emphasized the importance of YouTube to industry marketing, stating that “the entire industry feeds off of YouTube — whether they will admit it or not.”³⁴The Reload, ‪@TheGunCollective‬’s Jon Patton on YouTube’s Latest Crackdown on Firearms Content, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cvQ5bpEpvQ Patton expressed concern that the gun industry would no longer be able to use YouTube as a promotional platform.³⁵Id.

III. Conclusion

YouTube’s enforcement of its prohibition on links to websites that sell firearms and certain firearm accessories is a step in the right direction. While the number of violative videos on the platform has decreased, more targeted enforcement could further reduce that number. To that end, Everytown recommends the following actions: 

1. First and foremost, YouTube should commit more enforcement resources to ensuring that guns are not sold through links on the platform. YouTube’s policy appropriately establishes that the company does not intend to provide a space where gun commerce is directly facilitated—but the effectiveness of such policies is contingent upon the resources dedicated to effective enforcement. 
2. Second, YouTube should leverage the findings of Everytown’s analysis in this report as a blueprint to focus enforcement resources on the most frequent violators. As previously discussed, across the more than 3,000 videos with violative links, just 10 retailers were linked to in more than 80 percent of the videos with violative links.³⁶Magpul, Primary Arms, Sportsman’s Guide, Brownells, OpticsPlanet, Palmetto State Armory, Cabela’s, Firearms Depot, Walther, and Wilson Combat Prioritizing enforcement against these 10 retailers would be an impactful step.
3. Third, since much of social media policy enforcement relies on machine learning, YouTube should utilize the data set of violative videos identified in this report to enhance its automated detection tools. Of course, there should be checks in place to ensure non-violative videos are not flagged, and that users have the ability to appeal take-down decisions (as they currently do). We also recommend that the company conduct and share out regular audits of its machine learning driven firearms policy enforcement to measure effectiveness, false positives, and false negatives.  
4. Fourth, YouTube should clearly communicate its policy to those that violate it, and, where necessary, impose appropriate corrective actions. For repeat offenders, enforcement should escalate to include potential channel bans, reinforcing the platform’s commitment to upholding its Community Guidelines. Furthermore, to give the public and creators more transparency, YouTube should provide specific metrics on firearms-related violations in their public-facingpublic facing transparency reports. 

YouTube, like other social media companies, has created a platform where millions of Americans, including young people, interact on a daily basis. By establishing Community Guidelines that prohibit firearms sales on its platform, the company was justified in preventing gun sales. And now, it appears that YouTube has finally taken steps to uphold this standard. For the company to build upon its recent progress, YouTube must ensure more consistent implementation of this policy and strengthen its enforcement mechanisms when violations are discovered.