It’s telling when the largest digital town square on earth announces it’s ready to let Americans talk again—just not about guns.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, revealed last week that it would relax its suffocating rules on COVID-19 and 2020 election content. After years of silencing dissent, deplatforming creators, and shaping narratives at the behest of the Biden-Harris administration, YouTube now says it will restore accounts terminated under those old policies. Civil liberties advocates should welcome that reversal, but there’s a glaring omission in Alphabet’s supposed free speech “reforms”: its relentless crackdown on firearm-related content.
Free Speech for Some, Not for All
The shift comes after the House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), exposed White House pressure campaigns demanding the removal of legal content critical of the administration’s messaging on COVID and election integrity. Alphabet admitted in its own September 23rd letter that “Senior Biden Administration officials, including White House officials, conducted repeated and sustained outreach” to influence platform policy. In other words, Washington weaponized Big Tech to silence Americans.
And yet, while Alphabet is now walking back censorship of political speech, its stranglehold on Second Amendment speech is as tight as ever.
How YouTube Censors Guns
On YouTube, it’s still forbidden to share videos that:
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Show how to make ammunition or install legal firearm accessories.
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Demonstrate ordinary handling of firearms—even in educational or safety contexts.
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Stream lawful activities like transporting a firearm.
Creators who simply review products, demonstrate safe practices, or engage in lawful commentary routinely see their work age-restricted, demonetized, or erased altogether. Meanwhile, fictional depictions of criminals spraying bullets in Hollywood films face no restrictions.
The hypocrisy is staggering: depictions of murder in movies are “artistic expression,” but teaching safe firearm handling is dangerous “content.”
The Chilling Effect
Google’s advertising policies double down on the discrimination. Ads for sporting rifles, concealed-carry holsters, or even manuals on firearm safety are prohibited. The rules extend so broadly that respected channels like Hickok45, Firearms Guide, and GunGuyTV have faced penalties or suspensions. Some creators were even forced to host their content on adult websites just to avoid Big Tech censorship. Think about that—Americans had to go to porn sites to access firearms education and safety videos.
This isn’t about safety. It’s about stigmatizing and silencing one of America’s oldest civil liberties.
Guns Are Speech Too
The United States is home to over 400 million privately owned firearms. Pretending you can suppress information about them is absurd. Worse, it creates ignorance instead of responsibility. As even Everytown’s latest (and ironically backfired) “training” campaign shows, knowledge—not censorship—is what builds a culture of safe and lawful gun ownership.
By banning firearm-related speech while green-lighting virtually everything else, Alphabet betrays its supposed principles of openness and dialogue. Free speech doesn’t end when the subject is the Second Amendment.
Conclusion: Big Tech’s Next Test
Alphabet may have been shamed into admitting that silencing dissenting views on COVID and elections was wrong. But if the company truly cares about restoring free expression, it cannot continue gagging lawful discussion of firearms. Guns are not fringe. They are part of America’s foundation, protected explicitly in the Bill of Rights.
If Google and YouTube want to prove their commitment to liberty is more than PR spin, they must lift the muzzle on America’s gun owners, creators, and educators.
Until then, their free speech “victory lap” rings hollow.
