YouTube Removes Gun Channels From Their Partner Program

YouTube Removes Gun Channels From Their Partner Program
YouTube Removes Gun Channels From Their Partner Program

U.S.A.-(Ammoland.com)- Google has once again struck out against Second Amendment channels on its YouTube video sharing platform.

The tech giant has set out to demonetize channels dealing with guns even if the creators do not violate YouTube’s terms of service.

A few months ago, channels that feature do it yourself gunsmithing, such as installing a lower parts kit into an AR-15 receiver, started losing the ability to collect advertising revenue through the YouTube Partner Program. Now demonetization has seemed to hit other gun channels.

The YouTube Partner Program allows creators to share the AD revenue from advertisements that appear before and after a video. The amount received varies from creator to creator but can range from a few dollars a month to a substantial amount. Some creators are able to make YouTube into their full-time job.

The Honest Outlaw is one creator that has had his channel wholly demonized without cause by Google. He reached out to YouTube support for help. According to him, the YouTube representative was very condescending. The support team could not give him an answer as to why they took his ability to make a living away but did assure him he violated some secret term of service of the Partner Program.

In a video response, the Honest Outlaw shared his belief that Google will not let him rejoin the YouTube Partner Program. He expressed his frustration at the lack of communication between him and YouTube. He was also upset that the tech giant would not even give him an answer to why they demonized his channel. He isn’t the only gun channel to be hit with demonetization.

One key problem that creators are pointing out is that YouTube is not notifying creators until they check their analytics.  A small box appears at the top of the screen stating that their channel is being removed from the YouTube Partner Program.  In some cases, it will link to why their channel is being removed from the program and encourages the user to apply again in a month.  Once the user clicks off the page the notification is gone and will not show up again.  A lot of affected creators will never notice the notification. YouTube is not emailing the end users about their removal from the program.

Even my own YouTube channel, Black Swan Media, has been demonetized by Google. YouTube claimed that I was posting “harmful content” on my channel. Guns were not for sale through my channel. In fact, I did not sell anything.

There weren’t even gun reviews or advertisements on my channel. My channel consisted of live streams on Second Amendment issues and interviews with people from the gun world and beyond. There is nothing controversial about my channel unless YouTube considers talking about Second Amendment issues against their terms of service.

Thinking it was a mistake I reached out to YouTube support, but I had a similar experience as the Honest Outlaw. Once I gave the YouTube support agent my channel’s name, they stopped responding to me altogether. I went to Twitter to get answers and started Tweeting directly at YouTube support. They were answering requests from other users within an hour, but after four days they still have not responded to me.

This move by YouTube comes on the heels of demonization of other channels such as Steven Crowder’s channel. The mass demonization of conservative new sources comes after weeks of pressure by mainstream media sources led by Carlos Maza of Vox (an NBC Universal Company). In Crowder’s case, YouTube verified that he did not violate any terms of service but chose to kick him out of the YouTube Partner Program

Many creators, especially gun channels, are left wondering what they can and can’t do on the video-sharing platform. To this point, YouTube has not laid down clear rules on what gun channels can and can’t do while taking part in the revenue sharing program.

AmmoLand reached out Google for comment, but as of this writing, they have not responded.


About John CrumpJohn Crump

John is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.

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jack mac

The government breaking up the media oligarchy monopoly is unlikely. As long as we allow the same oligarchy to control the government. Our right of free speech still exist; just our being broadly heard is denied. We cannot vote the oligarchy out, but it is possible to vote their controlled politicians out.

Donttreadonme

These tech giants need to be reigned in. And while I am no fan of government intrusion, they have grown to the point where competition is not really an option which makes them a bit of a monopoly. Imagine if they did this to gays, or any other minority?

Wild Bill

@Donttread, Your instincts are correct. Government intruding on big corporations, that are a creature of statute, and can have great impact on the nation and the world, is much different than government intrusion into the life or Civil Rights of individuals. Individuals are living breathing entities and can have only small and temporary impact on their neighbors.

ace_m82

You all deserve the pain you’ll cause for trying to solve a market problem with government.

Has that ever gone well in all of history?

Wild Bill

@Ace, Yes, every business that cornered the market and used their size or position to stamp out competition, that was broken up into smaller companies, so that competition could again thrive and serve the American people went well. The break up of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, that had a stranglehold on Americans, is the paradigm.

ace_m82

I could have sworn that you have other options than to use Google or YouTube. If you are unwilling to do so, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Remember, there are no truly onerous monopolies without the government intervention you so desperately crave. Your government schooling is showing.

MBeach222

Who wants to file the first law suit? One good bit of Case Law will put them (and others) on the defensive.

donfranko

I stopped using Google weeks ago. Use Opera or Firefox with duck duck go search engine. Vote with your wallet.

BlackDeerHunter

I’ve been ringing the alarm about this since 2015, but people would rather give money and time to people who hate them.

option31

Google is today’s version of book burners. We need to face facts and call them such. Unti we jump in and start calling the authoritarian s and their supporters such They will continue to couch their authoritarianism in terms that the uni,formed will but into. We must get in the fight with terms that will hold them up as the people they are

option31

Google is today’s version of book burners. We need to face facts and call them such. Unti we jump in and start calling the authoritarian s and their supporters such They will continue to couch their authoritarianism in terms that the uni,formed will but into

Guns&Moses

All about CONTROL! NOT FREEDOM

Rufus

What are the options? I do not watch u tube much. Surly someone with the testicle fortitude can start another site. It would take mucho $$, I will gladly invest. I hope someone takes this on.

loveaduck

Time to sue. They owe you the information.

MICHAEL J

Competition fuels innovation. But innovation comes at a steep cost. What made these giants is the ease that people get hooked by the innocent attraction of free knowledge and entertainment. And soon without realizing it, we become addicted to the ease of using their product and putting up with the constant bombardment of advertising which drives this mammoth machine. Google, YouTube, Facebook all have guidelines, theirs. You either agree with their demands or you don’t get to play. But ultimately it’s consumer that drives commerce, whether it’s narcotics, sex or YouTube. Addiction is the hook that keeps us from swimming… Read more »

jack mac

Michael J. The media oligarchy is allowing only one pond to swim in, hooked or not. There is not other stand alone large media ponds to swim to. Even the small ones are drained and dried by the oligarchy. We are becoming no more than fish in a barrel.

Terril Hebert

Nothing new to me. I’ve been unmonotitized for years at this point. At the end of the day is it your hobby or your job and how much will you spend on it?

Ryben Flynn

Always have a backup plan. If you have to depend ONLY on YouTube for your income then you need to consider getting regular employment. Sorry, but that’s the way I feel about it.

Rock

Maybe Mr. Trump or someone he knows would like to start his own CONSERVATIVE, PRO 2nd web sight… It would undoubtedly cut Google and Youtube in half along with most others… The other sights wouldn’t exist to most then.

Vanns40

First and foremost understand that Trump is NOT pro-Second Amendment despite anything he says. Look at his actions not his words. To stop this discrimination the first step is to have Congress strip immunity from all the tech companies and, as monopolies, make them subject to the Sherman Antitrust Act. Then and only then do we have a good starting point to bring them to task.

Green Mtn. Boy

This is the solution,if one truly wants to reign in the Totalitarian Left’s tech.companies.

ace_m82

I think it’s cute how much you trust government to solve a market issue.

That’s never gone poorly before. Never!

Y’all who think like this deserve the evil you get.

gsteele

This sounds like unilateral breach of contract. If you have an agreement and produce content that has been generating revenue in response to your efforts, for both you and YouTube, and YouTube clandestinely pulls that revenue stream in violation of the contract in the manner described above, then they have unilaterally violated the contract that was in place, and done so without notice. It seems to me that there’s a case for a class-action suit against YouTube for breach of contract behavior, and that there are abundant examples of such violations of the content providers’ agreements. I would say it… Read more »

Wild Bill

@gsteele, good analysis.

Graham Baates

They’ve been hitting me lately too. As soon as I upload the video it cut from any revenue. Earning was never my intent, but it sure helped pay for ammo and gas.

Baldwin

Where do we go to find these missing videos? Oh yeah, fuque youtube.

Green Mtn. Boy

I’ll second the sentiment of Google/You Tube

Ej harbet

Google youtube facebook,these people are the enemy we feed instead of fight.
Sadly other than the feds removing their protection from liability and or regulation
I have no solution