Facebook, Instagram banning private gun sales on their sites

For those who do not own guns or seek them out online, it may come as a shock that the social network has become such a popular platform for buying firearms, which is typically thought to take place on the darknet.

Although Facebook has never been directly involved in gun sales, it has served as a forum for gun sales to be negotiated.

Facebook itself has never actually sold a gun, obviously, but as The New York Times points out, it was “increasingly evolving into an e-commerce site where it could facilitate the transaction of goods”.

The new ban updates Facebook’s regulated goods policy, introduced in March 2014, that banned people from selling marijuana, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs. The social network has 219 million users in the US alone, and though its not clear exactly how many private gun sales were happening on the site, the Times calls it was one of the world’s largest marketplaces for private gun sales, and from a cursory search, the site has many large groups devoted to firearm sales that act like online classified pages. The social network makes it easy to get in contact with someone, share pictures, and thanks to that money sending feature added to Messenger not too long ago, even pay for an item.

Facebook said it would rely on users to flag posts and messages when the new rule is violated.

“Mums are grateful for the leadership shown by Facebook today”, said Shannon Watts, founder of Mums Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a part of the Everytown for Gun Safety campaign group. Prior to this new policy, Facebook had already prohibited private sellers from promoting their wares with the tagline “no background check required”.

While Facebook is not a direct retailer of guns, in the past it has let users advertise guns for sale on their pages and in Instagram posts. The ban wouldn’t apply to posts by licensed gun dealers.

Social media apps including WhattsApp, LinkedIn, Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, SnapChat and Periscope are displayed in a social media folder on the screen of an Apple Inc. iPhone 6.

The National Rifle Association (NRA), an organization which advocates for gun rights, has not issued a response to Facebook’s policy change yet.