With the free speech debate recently co-opted by one TV host’s use of false and incendiary remarks about his political opponents, it might have been easy to miss another important First Amendment story last week. Alphabet, home to Google – which in turn owns YouTube – announced that it was easing its “Community Guidelines” around material dealing with COVID-19 and the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. Along with allowing a broader range of discussion on these topics, it announced that it would provide an opportunity for creators whose accounts were terminated under the old rules to rejoin the platform. While this is welcome news from the host of the planet’s largest digital town squares, it begs another question: When will Alphabet relent on its clampdown of firearm-related speech?
Alphabet’s change of heart follows a House Judiciary Committee investigation of the Biden-Harris administration’s attempts to pressure tech companies to remove content and creators contradicting the administration’s messaging on COVID-19 and election integrity. A lengthy letter from Alphabet’s attorneys to Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), dated Sept. 23, 2025, detailed Alphabet’s version of events.
Among the company’s disclosures were that “Senior Biden Administration officials, including White House officials, conducted repeated and sustained outreach to Alphabet and pressed the Company regarding certain user-generated content related to the COVID-19 pandemic that did not violate its policies.” These officials, the letter continued, “including President Biden, created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions of platforms based on their concerns regarding misinformation.” It characterized the Biden administration’s efforts at “dictat[ing]” company policies as ”unacceptable and wrong[.]”
The letter noted “YouTube’s current approach allows a wide range of content regarding COVID-19 and elections.” Prior policies limiting discussions of these topics have been changed or sunsetted. Moreover, it announced, “YouTube will provide an opportunity for all creators to rejoin the platform if the Company terminated their channels for repeated violations of COVID-19 and elections integrity policies that are no longer in effect.” As the New York Post noted, such creators include a number of current Trump administration officials, including Dan Bongino, Sebastian Gorka, and Steve Bannon.
Civil rights advocates should be heartened by Alphabet’s recent moves to correct past censorship and should take note of how the Biden-Harris administration sought to suppress content that contradicted its own messaging, however inaccurate or incomplete.
But Alphabet continues to sharply moderate firearm-related speech, including content concerning entirely legal and common technology and practices. YouTube, for example, bans “[c]ontent intended to sell firearms, instruct viewers on how to make firearms, ammunition, and certain accessories, or instruct viewers on how to install those accessories[.]” It also censors “live streams that show someone holding, handling, or transporting a firearm,” no matter what the context. Moreover, it treats other legal, educational, and nonviolent firearm-related content as age-restricted for viewers under 18. Ironically, these restrictions apply only to “real use of firearms” and not to “artistic” portrayals of firearms, including their use to commit crime and violence in movies.
Moreover, Google’s advertising policies ban ads for functional guns – or, indeed, any “devices that appear to discharge a projectile at high velocity” – whether “for sport, self-defense, or combat[.]” Also prohibited are “[a]ds for any part or component, whether finished or unfinished, that's essential to or enhances the functionality of a gun” and “[a]ds for instructions on the assembly or enhancement of the functionality of firearms[.]”
As firearms enthusiasts know, these policies are broadly construed and have resulted in adverse actions against popular and mainstream creators and businesses engaged in lawful conduct and expression. These include Hickok45, Firearms Guide, and GunGuyTV. Some creators even reported having to resort to posting their content on adult entertainment sites to avoid the restrictions of the mainstream platforms.
As we noted elsewhere this week in relation to backlash from gun control supporters over Everytown’s new “firearms training” initiative, it’s futile and counterproductive to limit access to information about firearms in a country of well over 400 million of them. This speaks of ideological and cultural bigotry, not a serious attempt to promote a culture of safety and responsibility.
If Alphabet is serious about its professed commitment to free speech and open dialogue, it should revisit its restrictions on content relating to one of America’s foundational civil liberties, the right to keep and bear arms.
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