Facebook is banning private sales of guns on its flagship
social network and its Instagram photo-sharing service, a move designed to
clamp down on unlicensed gun transactions.
Facebook already prohibits people from offering
marijuana, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs for sale, and the company said Friday
it was updating its policy to include guns. The ban applies to private,
person-to-person sales of guns. Licensed gun dealers and gun clubs can still
maintain Facebook pages and post on Instagram.
Although Facebook was not directly involved in gun sales,
it has served as a forum for gun sales to be negotiated, without people having
to undergo background checks. The social network, with 1.6 billion monthly
visitors, had become one of the world's largest marketplaces for guns and was
increasingly evolving into an e-commerce site where it could facilitate
transactions of goods.
The ban thrusts Facebook into the center of another major
societal debate. Discussions over gun control have flared anew after the mass
shootings last year in San Bernardino, California, and a community college in
Oregon, among others. In January, President Barack Obama gave a speech
promising to tighten enforcement of laws governing unlicensed gun sales. In
response, some individual sellers said they would turn to sites like Facebook,
which allowed them to freely advertise guns for sale.
Facebook said it would rely on its vast network of users
to report any violations of the new rules, and would remove any post that
violated the policy. Beyond that, the company said it could ban users or
severely limit the ways they post on Facebook, depending on the type and
severity of past violations. If the company believed someone's life was in
danger, Facebook would work with law enforcement on the situation.
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