YouTube Gun Channels Unionize Against Censorship

YouTube has been cracking down on channels that do not conform, with the political ideology of the Left. This means that if a channel does not consist entirely pro-gay leftists, shouting out “Love Trumps Hate” while trans children dance in the background, that channel has about a 50/50 chance of being taken down or demonetized.

So, channels that deal with firearms are right out. They have no shot of making it.

As you likely know, there are many fine firearms channels on YouTube, which give useful advice for firearms users, curiosity seekers, and those who are interested in self-defense. Many of these are for entertainment purposes, many more offer professional grade advice on safety, defense, hunting, and the like.

Suffice it to say that the top brass at YouTube have been treating all gun channels as if they were breaking community guidelines by showing irresponsible or illegal content. Channels like Hickok45, USCCA, NRA TV, and Forgotten Weapons have been lumped in with the knuckleheads.

Obviously, this is not fair. Channels like USCCA, NRA TV, Hickok45 and Forgotten Weapons have never shown or advocated for anything that is illegal, malicious, or unreasonably dangerous. Naturally, using firearms always come with some degree of risk, as does any sporting or defense related activity.

Another popular weapons channel that’s been wrongly lumped in is Joerg Sprave’s The Slingshot Channel. The slingshot channel comes out of Germany, and Joerg goes through great pains to stay within Germany’s highly restrictive weapons laws. Still, YouTube has completely demonetized his channel as well.

In case you’re not aware, Joerg Sprave is a jolly, friendly tinkerer who has never advocated for violence or illegal activity. His channel is almost entirely for entertainment and the devices he creates are almost invariably much less dangerous than modern firearms.

Joerg recently built a launcher for torpedo-shaped pillows to show off at a games convention where he will be working with his sponsor, the makers of a battleship themed video game. Clearly, the man needs to be demonetized before he takes over Dresden with torpedo plushies.

The channels we’ve mentioned are very popular, and minus YouTube’s draconian censorship practices, they are also viable sources of income for the people that run them. That is up until about two years ago when YouTube decided they needed to protect the public from these unwanted presences.

So what we have here are channels for which there is a demonstrated demand from the public, channels that have broken no laws or rules, which are being destroyed- taking livelihoods with them.

Now, channels like Joerg’s, Hickock45, and Forgotten Weapons- and many more- are unionizing to protect their channels and their livelihoods. Joerg made a video explaining what’s going on.

He said, “IG Metall, the largest independent trade union on the planet, and the YouTubers union are now joining forces with a clear goal: to bring back the old YouTube. We have founded the joint venture FairTube. We have 125 years of experience in the fight against injustice and over two million members plus superb lawyers are now joining forces with thousands of YouTubers who are really unhappy with the way things are going. Together, I think we are completely unbeatable. FairTube is unbeatable. We want YouTube to actually perform massive changes on their strategy for the benefit of the creators and for the benefit of the entire platform.”

Believe it or not, their case is quite strong. In most cases where YouTube has removed monetization or taken a channel down, there was no clear citation of any violation of law, policy, or common decency. In most cases, YouTube simply says something to the effect of “this channel/video violates our community standards.”

Using this kind of management speak, they have punished content creators who have clearly done nothing offensive, violent, illegal, or even dangerous. What’s more, there are prank channels, stunt channels, music video channels and other which clearly advocate for violence, harm, crime, and sexual misconduct that are still active and making money on YouTube. With these facts alone, the lawyers working for FairTube should be able to make YouTube reconsider its behavior.

The face of Forgotten Weapons, popularly known as “Gun Jesus,” says, “What we want is clarification as to what YouTube’s actual policies regarding gun related content actually are.”

This is a demand that YouTube will not be able to resist in a legal setting. And once they have laid down their rules on the record, they will not be able to shut channels down arbitrarily any more.