The Social Network with 1.6 million unique monthly users had become the largest virtual marketplace for buying guns and pistols
Facebook has banned the sale of firearms between private individuals on its social sharing platforms, including Instagram. He announced in a statement Friday, January 29, 2016 the company of Mark Zuckerberg.
A move intended to crack down on the purchase of weapons by those who do not have any license. In the past, Facebook had imposed the ban users to sell on their social profiles marijuana, drugs or illegal drugs.
The company stated that the new trade policy now also include firearms. The ban was applied mainly to individuals, who can not sell or advertise the purchase of weapons on the pages of the social network.
For the time being, the only ones who can still take advantage of Facebook to sell or purchase firearms are authorized dealers licensed weapons and club pro who can maintain their pages and share photos on social Instagram.
Although Facebook has never been directly involved in the sale of weapons, its pages have often been used as a forum where users can share ads for sale and purchase of weapons, without being subject to any control .
In an indirect way, the social network with 1.6 billion monthly visitors was becoming one of the largest markets in the world for the sale of rifles and pistols, facilitating more and more transactions like a e-commerce site.
The decision to Facebook to apply this ban is another important step in the social debate on the issue of weapons in America, wrote the New York Times.
Discussions about it was rekindled after the mass shooting of December 2, 2015 in San Bernardino, California.
On January 5, 2016, the US president gave a speech in which he promised greater controls on the laws that govern the sale of weapons without a license. As replication, some individual vendors have turned to sites such as Facebook to advertise their products in a free manner.
Facebook appeals to the sensitivity of users
The ban applied by social networks with the most members in the world of which 219 million are registered in the US and Canada, aims above on collaboration of its users, who are to report violations of the new rules. In the case of post suspicious or ill suited to company policy, will use Facebook to delete all messages.
If such violations will be judged serious then it will be provided for the intervention of the police.
“In the last two years more and more people use social networks to discover new products, or to sell personal items to each other”, said Monika Bickert, policy chief of the product Facebook. “The decision to impose the ban is a step forward towards our common goal to stop once and for all the illegal sale of weapons on line.”
On the other side, Facebook is home to dozens of groups online that cater to fans of rifles and pistols. Here the members of virtual communities publish daily pictures and details on each item, describing the details of the weapon publicized in order to find a buyer. Many of the groups are private, which means that users must be approved by an administrator before you can access.
In addition, the social network has facilitated transactions between users of e-commerce for many commercial products. In December, the company introduced a that directs users to businesses and local services, on which were written great reviews.
In the last months, Facebook has allowed to send payments between users through Messenger. This helped albeit in an indirect way to ensure that the social network is transformed into a huge market of virtual exchange and sale of any product, including weapons.
The reaction of the associations against the misuse of weapons
The company Mark Zuckerberg has been pushed to apply a company policy even more restrictive by security groups against the use of arms.
These include Everytown for gun safety , an association that unites itself the organization of mayors against illegal guns ( mayors against illegal guns ) and mothers who demand action savvy weapons in America ( moms demand action for gun sense in America ).
Shannon Watts, founder of the Moms for gun sense that helped lead the campaign against the sale of weapons to Facebook in 2014 has clarified that: “Such a ban will prevent dangerous people to get guns very easily and you can save so many American lives.”
“The mothers are grateful for the commitment shown by Facebook to remove all posts that advertise the sale of weapons without a license on their platforms.”
( Here is a poster of the campaign against the misuse of weapons launched in June 2015 by Moms for gun sense in America. Credit: Facebook)
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