Facebook announced that any posts regarding sales of illegal guns on the social network and its photo-sharing site, Instagram, will be deleted citing new policy changes.
Facebook, the biggest social networking site, is implementing new changes in its policy against illegal gun sales on its site. The company will no longer allow users to sell or trade firearms without background verifications through Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram. The law gets tougher on minors, as access to such posts will remain inaccessible.
The gun control implementation on the social media follows severe pressure from "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" and "Moms Demand Action," U.S. groups that campaigned against the ease of buying and selling firearms using Facebook posts. After the new policy is implemented in the coming weeks, Facebook will delete such illicit posts. Facebook will rely on reports from users, gun control groups and police of any violation of the site's policies.
"People sometimes use our free tools to discuss products that are regulated or controversial. In some cases they promote these products for sale or use, even though it's not possible to complete a sale on Facebook or Instagram," Facebook's Head of Global Policy Management, Monika Bickert, wrote in a company's blog post, Wednesday. "While we've recently heard specific concerns from people about offers for the private sales of firearms, this is one of many areas where we face a difficult challenge balancing individuals' desire to express themselves on our services, and recognizing that this speech may have consequences elsewhere."
With the latest change, Facebook falls in the same category as Google, Craigslist and Amazon that restrict online gun sales without proper background verification. But most users turn to Reddit for such needs, where the site lists thousands of firearm sales, magazine clips and other weapons.
Facebook will take some precautionary measures to prevent such illegal posts from appearing on its site. If a post is reported on the site about promoting a sale of unapproved items, Facebook will notify the owner of the account by sending a message to comply with the laws. In addition, the social network will offer in-app education on Instagram to users looking to buy firearms on the site. Facebook will pro-actively restrict posts that use luring terms like "no background check required," or a cross state sale of firearms without a licensed dealer involved.
"Facebook and Instagram will continue to remove content, and notify law enforcement where appropriate, when we are notified about things shared on our services that suggest a direct, credible risk to others' safety. We will also continue to strictly enforce our advertising policies," Bickert added.
