Skip to main content

Private gun sales are now banned on Facebook, Instagram

private gun sales are now banned on facebook instagram
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Updating an existing policy that prohibited the sale of illegal drugs and pharmaceuticals on the social network, Facebook has moved to include guns to that list. Basically, this means that Facebook and Instagram users are no longer allowed to negotiate private sales of guns using any form of messaging through the two social networks.

This likely means that community pages that facilitate private sales of firearms, like Guns & Archery Buy, sale & Trade, will be shut down unless guns are eliminated from the page. However, gun clubs and licensed gun dealers are still welcome to maintain Facebook pages and Instagram feeds in order to continue actively promoting their organizations.

Speaking about the new shift, Facebook’s Monika Bickert, head of product policy, saidOver the last two years, more and more people have been using Facebook to discover products and to buy and sell things to one another. We are continuing to develop, test and launch new products to make this experience even better for people and are updating our regulated goods policies to reflect this evolution.”

Facebook representatives are concerned that gun owners are using the two social networks to circumvent background checks when selling a weapon to another party. Prior to this new policy, Facebook had already prohibited private sellers from promoting their wares with the tagline “no background check required.” In addition, Facebook prohibited any sales of guns that crossed state lines and made sure minors weren’t able to access pages that advertised guns for sale.

Happy about the changes, John Feinblatt, the president of advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, saidWe’re gratified that our continuous conversation with Facebook over the course of the last two years has culminated in the company prohibiting all unlicensed gun sales arranged on its platforms. Our undercover investigations have shown that criminals are active in the online market for guns, where unlicensed sellers can offer guns with no federal background check required.

The National Rifle Association has yet to release a statement about Facebook’s shift in policy.

Editors' Recommendations

Mike Flacy
By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…
The new ways Meta will pay you to make content for Facebook and Instagram
facebook hacked

Creators on Facebook and Instagram will soon have more ways to generate revenue from their content.

On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared via a Facebook post (and in a series of comments on that post), a few updates on monetization for creators on Facebook and Instagram. These updates included expansions to existing monetization options, as well as a few new ways to make money.

Read more
Instagram and Facebook apps add features, move ever-closer to TikTok parity
Screenshots of full-screen posts on Instagram.

Meta has introduced new tools for the Reels video feature on Instagram and Facebook that are a one-two punch against TikTok. The company announced the new features on Thursday, saying they would make it easier for content creators who prefer one or both of the platforms to their behemoth long-form video competitor to better connect with their audience.

On Instagram, Meta has extended Reels to 90 seconds, giving users more time to express themselves and promote their brands and products. In addition to the extended run time, Reels is also getting stickers that were once exclusive to Instagram Stories. Aside from the captions that are present at the beginning of a video, users will be able to use polls, stickers, and emoji slider stickers when showing their viewers new things or comparing what hairstyle, outfit, or product design they might like best.

Read more
NFTs are coming to Instagram, with testing starting this week
A woman seated at a table scrolls through her instagram timeline.

Those non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't going away anytime soon. In fact, they're even coming to a certain popular photo-sharing app near you.

On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, announced via a video posted on Facebook that Instagram would begin testing NFTs as early as this week. Referring to them as "digital collectibles," Zuckerberg said that the move to test NFTs on Instagram was so "that creators and collectors can display their NFTs" on their profiles. He also went on to mention that a "similar functionality" would also be brought to Facebook as well, but did not specify when that would happen.

Read more