Facebook Expands Online Commerce Role, But Says "No Guns, Please"

The New York Times reports that Facebook's newly staked-out role as a site to facilitate local, person-to-person sales (ala Craigslist) has a new wrinkle: the site has announced a site-wide policy restricting firearms sales that applies to personal sales, though not to licensed dealers or gun clubs. According to the story, Although Facebook was not directly involved in gun sales, it has served as a forum for gun sales to be negotiated, without people having to undergo background checks. The social network, with 1.6 billion monthly visitors, had become one of the worldâ(TM)s largest marketplaces for guns and was increasingly evolving into an e-commerce site where it could facilitate transactions of goods. ... Facebook said it would rely on its vast network of users to report any violations of the new rules, and would remove any post that violated the policy. Beyond that, the company said it could ban users or severely limit the ways they post on Facebook, depending on the type and severity of past violations. If the company believed someoneâ(TM)s life was in danger, Facebook would work with law enforcement on the situation. The policy applies as well to private sales that occur using Facebook Messenger, though the company does not scan Messenger exchanges and must rely on user reports.

Comments

Astro-turfing

[Anonymous Coward]

What's going on with the comments here? It's like the Brady Campaign sent out an action alert and all their drones showed up to post.

Re:Guns actually protect people

[JumpSuit Boy]

It is also worth noting that British crime data is fiddled with at every level all the way up to Scotland Yard. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

Also murders in England and Whales are only counted after arrest, conviction, retrial and been jailed. This is unlike literally every other country where "Dude he was murdered and we do not know the killer" is the rule to count as a murder.