Facebook takes aim at users selling guns after safety advocacy campaign
Social network to block minors from seeing pages, posts involving private sales of firearms
Facebook is taking aim at people who are using its social network or the Instagram photo-sharing platform to sell guns.
Under pressure from gun safety advocates, Facebook will block members under 18 years of age from viewing pages or timeline posts that involve private sales of firearms and will set up online "checkpoints" warning people that such deals may be illegal.
People offering guns for sale on Facebook would not be allowed to say that background checks were not required or that sales would be done across state lines without involving licensed firearms dealers, it said.
"We will not permit people to post offers to sell regulated items that indicate a willingness to evade or help others evade the law," Facebook head of global policy management Monika Bickert said in a blog post.
Facebook said that it worked with New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman and advocacy groups to modify policies to fight illegal gun sales.
"Responsible social media sites know that it is in no one's interest for their sites to become a 21st century black market in dangerous and illegal goods that place our families and communities at risk," Schneiderman said in a statement.
