Facebook launches crackdown to stop gun sales

Guns crackdown: Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg
Peter Da Silva/EPA
Robin de Peyer30 January 2016

Facebook is cracking down on online gun sales with a new policy barring private individuals from advertising or selling guns on the site.

The new policy also applies to photo-sharing service Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

Gun control groups have long complained that Facebook and other online sites are frequently used by unlicensed sellers and buyers not legally eligible to buy firearms.

Facebook had announced some restrictions on gun sales and advertising in 2014, saying it would block minors from seeing posts that advertised guns. But the social network did not ban private sales at that time.

Licensed firearms retailers can still promote their businesses on Facebook, but are not allowed to accept orders or make sales on the site.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the new policy arose from the company's review of its rules following its recent efforts to encourage new forms of commerce on the site.

Facebook expanded its digital payments service last summer, allowing users of its Messenger service to send electronic payments to other individual users.

"Over the last two years, more and more people have been using Facebook to discover products and to buy and sell things to one another," Monika Bickert, who oversees Facebook product policies, said.

"We are continuing to develop, test, and launch new products to make this experience even better for people and are updating our regulated goods policies to reflect this evolution."

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