Skip to main content

Facebook updates its policies regarding weapon accessories and minors

Facebook has once again updated its advertising policies. This time the social media giant is cracking down on content related to guns, explosives, and other weapons. Facebook has banned advertisements relating to the sales of guns since 2016, but it is now turning its attention to the sale of firearms-related accessories to minors. The social network’s updated pollicies will allow companies to advertise scopes, holsters and belt accessories, firearms safety and training courses, and other such wide-ranging products and services — provided the minimum target age is at least 18.

In some ways, it looks like this might actually be a bit less restrictive than the site’s current rules. Currently, the only gun-related content that Facebook specifically allows are “Blogs or groups connecting people with weapon-related interests, as long as the service doesn’t lead to the sale of these products.” Facebook lists examples of ads that are not allowed, such as “Get your ammo here!” and “Our $1,800 Ammo Giveaway starts now! Click here to enter for your chance to win.”

Recommended Videos

That being said, Facebook is currently facing a lot of scrutiny regarding its advertisement and data policies. In addition to the scandal involving Cambridge Analytica, the social network has often been accused of being less than forthcoming about how its advertising works. These updated perameters, which are said to go into effect on the June 21, may simply be Facebook’s way of ensuring everyone is on the same page when it comes to weapons-related services and products.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Facebook gave little in the way of details regarding why it chose to update these policies. It is possible it has to do with the recent school shootings in the U.S., but this hasn’t been confirmed.

The policies still forbid the sale of weapons and ammunition regardless of the targeted age group. Furthermore, these guidelines also include non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray, BB guns, or even paintball and airsoft guns. The latter are used for entertainment rather than any form of self-defense, though the ban on airsoft guns does make sense considering that many of them are designed to look like actual firearms. A concern here is that someone could try selling real weapons disguised as airsoft guns.

Eric Brackett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Facebook speaks out against Apple App Store policies following gaming app issue
facebook messenger redesigned project lightspeed feature 2020

Following issues with both Microsoft and Google getting their gaming apps onto Apple's App Store, tech giant Facebook says it also had problems making its Facebook Gaming app available for iOS users.

The Facebook Gaming app is being launched on the App Store today, however, it had to have some functionalities removed in order to be approved by Apple. As reported by The Verge, Facebook Gaming had to remove its minigames feature for Apple to let the app through its notoriously stringent and sometimes seemingly arbitrary review process.

Read more
And the brands played on: How the Facebook ad boycott fizzled out
facebook hacked

The ad boycott against Facebook was supposed to be a drumbeat signaling change; a steady, crescendoing chorus of dissenters whose buying power was so strong that their absence would be noted and would bring true change to Facebook.

Starting in June with the announcement of the #StopHateForProfit campaign, advertisers hopped on board to be -- as the initial press release stated -- a response to “Facebook’s long history of allowing racist, violent, and verifiably false content to run rampant on its platform.”

Read more
Facebook says iOS 14’s new privacy tools could harm its ad business
apple ios 14 beta hands on review siri icon

Apple has made it even more difficult for developers to mine your data on iOS 14. One of the new additions prevents advertisers from covertly tracking you across nearly all apps and websites, and Facebook, for one, is not looking forward to it.

On Facebook’s second-quarter follow-up earnings call, David Wehner, the company’s chief financial officer, called the forthcoming update a “headwind” and said it will “make it harder for app developers and others to grow using ads on Facebook and, really, outside of Apple, to some extent.”

Read more