With support from the Fund, Lila Hassan dug into “GunTube,” the online ecosystem of firearms videomakers and influencers on YouTube. She found that T.Rex Arms, a firearms accessories company with over a million followers on YouTube, is pushing a hardline Christian ideology. Her reporting in Mother Jones uncovers the gap in online social media policy where extremism festers, because content doesn’t violate community guidelines even when it calls for Americans to arm themselves against the government.
Grantee tracks online “GunTube” influencers who peddle nationalism and encourage Americans to take up arms against government
