Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wants to meet YouTube CEO Neal Mohan will discuss why the website allows videos of making “ghost weapons” to be posted and why its algorithm pushes them to underage viewers who watch video game content. Dream guns are firearms assembled using purchased components such as 3D printed parts or kits. This means they don’t have serial numbers, are impossible to track, and don’t require any kind of background check to obtain.
One A letter to Mohan (PDF) cited a study by Bragg that requested the meeting Technical Transparency Project in 2023, where they created four test YouTube accounts and gave them the profiles of 14- and 9-year-old boys. Apparently, after playing at least 100 gameplay videos, YouTube’s algorithm started recommending how-to videos for them on how to make ghost weapons. It doesn’t matter if they just watch, say, Call of Duty never interacted with any content with gameplay videos and real guns. YouTube was still posting real gun content to their accounts, as well as other videos related to violence, such as school shootings and serial killers, even if they were supposed to be underage. Bragg also called YouTube’s attention to the fact that there is no way for guardians to disable the website’s recommendations in parental controls.
Bragg writes that many young people suspected of possessing guns in New York said they learned how to make ghost guns from YouTube. While the website removes these videos when they’re flagged by gun safety groups, the DA says YouTube should be more proactive in removing them, making sure future uploads are blocked and providing viewers with a way to opt out. recommendations. Especially since the website has a policy against uploading videos that purport to sell firearms or instruct viewers on how to repair them. YouTube said New York Daily News in a statement, the Manhattan DA said it would “carefully review” the videos it shared with the company and was committed to “removing any offending content.” [its] policies”.
