Anti-gun groups lobby Facebook and Instagram to change policies

By Kate Knibbs Published February 25, 2014

Anti-gun lobbyists are asking Facebook and Instagram to change their policies about selling firearms.

It’s already against policy to sell firearms officially, but groups like Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America have pointed to incidents where sales occur anyways. They want Facebook and Instagram to pay more attention to illegal sales, as VentureBeat reports. Moms Demand Action has already gathered over 91,000 signatures asking the social platforms to make it tougher to trade firearms.

Recommended Videos

And Facebook is paying attention. “You can’t buy things on Instagram and Facebook, nor can you promote the sale or use of weapons in advertising,” a Facebook spokesperson told VentureBeat. “We encourage people who come across any illegal activity to report it to us.”

This isn’t the first time Instagram has felt pressure: last November, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Ma.) wrote a letter imploring Instagram to halt the sale of guns.

Still, a simple hashtag search of #gunsforsale gets thousands of results on Instagram alone. And Facebook currently hosts a group called Gunz For Sale that has over 206,000 likes. Here’s a post from today:

Post by Guns For Sale.

It’s clear Facebook and its subsidiary could improve. It took this writer less than 20 seconds to pull up multiple weapons for sale on both platforms.

Former Contributor

Kate Knibbs is a writer from Chicago. She is very happy that her borderline-unhealthy Internet habits are rewarded with a…

Topics

Social Media

The UK just proposed a midnight social media curfew for teens that they can bypass in seconds

The government wants 16- and 17-year-olds off apps like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube from midnight to 6 AM, but the restriction has a built-in workaround.

Girl using a black phone while lying down

The UK just proposed a midnight social media curfew for teenagers, but it comes with a built-in escape hatch. According to the BBC, the UK government plans to restrict social media access for 16- and 17-year-olds between midnight and 6 AM, preventing them from using apps like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. But getting around it will take nothing more than a few taps.

A curfew teens can switch off

Social Media

X is teaching its AI algorithm something social networks once understood

A new ranking tweak gives mutuals more visibility after X found that friendship data was missing from an algorithm shaping who appears in replies

X has discovered a bold new strategy for making social media feel social again. It’s going to show your posts more often to people you actually know.

According to X product head Nikita Bier, the platform is boosting the visibility of posts among mutuals, meaning accounts that follow each other. He said this relationship data had been missing from the algorithm, leaving familiar accounts less visible when reply sections filled up.

Social Media

Instagram and WhatsApp lead in sextortion reports, iMessage is weaponized against teenagers: Report

Over 2,000 complaints in six months, and the platforms are still playing catch-up.

Child using a blue phone

If you use Instagram, WhatsApp, or iMessage, you need to know what is happening on these platforms. Australia's online safety regulator, eSafety, has published a new transparency report, and the findings are grim.

As reported by The Guardian, the regulator found significant gaps in how the biggest tech companies are handling online sexual extortion and child sexual exploitation, even as the reports keep climbing.