Facebook Puts Hold on Ads for Weapon Accessories, Protective Equipment in U.S.

Vp of integrity Guy Rosen and vp of global policy management Monika Bickert said in an updated Newsroom post that the social network implemented additional measures to monitor for signals of violence or other threats in Washington, D.C., and all 50 states.

Facebook’s indefinite ban on political ads remains in place, and the social network continues to promote accurate information about the election and the violence at the Capitol earlier this month, reducing the distribution of content that its systems predict to be less accurate, delegitimizing the election results or portraying the rioters as victims.

Further measures have also been put in place to reduce opportunities for similar conduct within groups.

Facebook blocked the creation of new events happening in close proximity to locations including the White House, the Capitol and state capitol buildings through Inauguration Day, and its operations center is conducting a secondary review of events related to the inauguration and removing those that violate its policies.

The creation of events in the U.S. by non-U.S. pages continues to be blocked.

Some people in the U.S. are having their access to features restricted due to signals such as repeat violations of the social network’s policies, including blocking them from creating live videos, events, groups or pages.

Finally, “out of an abundance of caution,” ads promoting weapon accessories and protective equipment in the U.S. are banned through at least Jan. 22.

Rosen and Bickert wrote, “We already prohibit ads for weapons, ammunition and weapon enhancements like silencers. But we will now also prohibit ads for accessories such as gun safes, vests and gun holsters in the U.S.”