Facebook Bans Advertising On Selling Guns
As US school shootings become frequent, social media giant Facebook and its photo-sharing app Instagram is clamping down on gun sales between its users. The new rules are a major turnaround from the company's traditionally relaxed policies of allowing its users to facilitate gun sales through its social networking platforms.
The ban is a response to Obama's ongoing advocacy to implement stricter regulations for owning and carrying guns which continue to face stiff opposition in the Republican-dominated Congress that traditionally favor gun ownership as a matter of constitutional right.
"Facebook has never been directly involved in gun selling, but it has been a place where buyers and sellers have negotiated sales," remarked Laura Sydell, a correspondent for NPR.
The ban, however, will not include the already-licensed gun stores or traders from putting paid ads on the world's biggest social networking site. To carry out its new policies, Facebook will largely depend on its users to conscientiously report any potential breach of gun trade-control regulations.
"We will remove reported posts that explicitly indicate a specific attempt to evade or help others evade the law. For example, we will remove reported posts where the potential buyer or seller indicates they will not conduct a background check or are willing to sell across state lines without a licensed firearms dealer," Facebook's official statement said as quoted by CS Monitor.
The move has been warmly received by anti-gun advocates including those who lost their loved ones in a string of indiscriminate shootings partly fueled by America's loose gun control laws which permit unscrupulous individuals from acquiring guns easily.
"Responsible social media sites know that it is in no one's interest for their sites to become the 21st century black market in dangerous and illegal goods...I congratulate Facebook and Instagram for taking these simple, common-sense steps to protect the safety and security of their users, and encourage other social media sites to follow their lead," commented New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as mentioned in a report by Time Magazine.
