Join us: Demand that Facebook enforce its own policies banning gun sales on the platform and commit to banning calls-to-arms from event pages. Friend, Supposedly you can’t buy or sell guns on Facebook. But a new investigation by The Washington Post has revealed that Facebook allows gun sellers and buyers to violate its policies an astonishing 10 times before removing them from the platform.1 Facebook’s shocking leniency around gun sales aligns with its track record on weapons in general. Free Press and other advocates have been calling on Facebook to ban calls-to-arms from its event pages for years — a simple and commonsense action that the company has still failed to take. Demand that Facebook fix its policies around guns and other firearms. Facebook’s absurd “10 strikes” gun-sale policy is just the latest example of how the company fails to equally enforce its own policies to keep users safe. And in the wake of recent tragedies in Uvalde and Buffalo, it’s past time for Facebook to take action to keep users safe. Facebook’s internal moderation practices are complex, opaque and seemingly arbitrary. Even one of Facebook’s own employees explained to The Washington Post: “No social media platform has reasons for why their thresholds are what they are …everyone’s just making up numbers.” Guess that’s how they got to … 10 strikes. 10??? Unreal. Users who try to sell guns on Facebook Marketplace shouldn’t get a second chance. Demand that Facebook protect people and enforce its ban on gun sales on its platforms. Thanks for all that you do, The Free Press team freepress.net P.S. Facebook claims to ban gun sales from its platforms, but a Washington Post investigation shows that the platform fails to enforce its own policies. Demand that Facebook ban gun sales for real and commit to banning calls-to-arms from event pages.
1. “Facebook’s Ban on Gun Sales Gives Sellers Ten Strikes Before Booting Them,” The Washington Post, June 9, 2022 |