Facebook may ban gun related pages

[cb1000rider]

What is this facebook of which you speak?

It's a means by which you can keep up with what your kids are doing... :-)

[tomtexan]

What is this facebook of which you speak?

It's a means by which you can keep up with what your kids are doing... :-)

Until they block you.

[A-R]

Much ado about nothing

http://newsroom.fb.com/News/814/Faceboo ... l-Activity" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Facebook, Instagram Announce New Educational and Enforcement Measures for Commercial Activity

March 05, 2014
Monika Bickert, Head of Global Policy Management

Facebook, at its heart, is about helping people connect and communicate. Because of the diversity of people and cultures on our services, we know that people sometimes post or share things that may be controversial or objectionable. We work hard to find a balance between enabling people to express themselves about topics that are important to them, and creating an environment that is safe and respectful.

This balance is important to how we view commercial activity on Facebook or Instagram. We have strict rules about how businesses can use our advertising tools. For example, we do not permit advertising for illegal drugs, tobacco products, prescription pharmaceuticals, weapons, and several other products and services, and restrict advertising for products such as alcohol, adult products, and gaming. In all cases, we have systems in place to review and remove advertising that violates our policies, is false, deceptive, or misleading.

Of course, most of our tools are free to use, and many people and organizations use them to establish a presence on Facebook, including to promote commercial transactions. While people can't use our services to actually sell things to each other, they can set up a Page or make an occasional post to their Timeline to find a roommate, sell a home, or solicit contributions for a church or nonprofit organization. Just like posting on a bulletin board at a supermarket or community center, these activities may be considered commercial, but we treat this type of sharing like any other type of sharing on our services - and we respond to reports when something violates our Community Standards.

People sometimes use our free tools to discuss products that are regulated or controversial. In some cases they promote these products for sale or use, even though it's not possible to complete a sale on Facebook or Instagram. While we've recently heard specific concerns from people about offers for the private sales of firearms, this is one of many areas where we face a difficult challenge balancing individuals' desire to express themselves on our services, and recognizing that this speech may have consequences elsewhere.

Today, we are introducing a series of new educational and enforcement efforts for people discussing the private sale of regulated items:

Any time we receive a report on Facebook about a post promoting the private sale of a commonly regulated item, we will send a message to that person reminding him or her to comply with relevant laws and regulations. We will also limit access to that post to people over the age of 18.
We will require Pages that are primarily used by people to promote the private sale of commonly regulated goods or services to include language that clearly reminds people of the importance of understanding and complying with relevant laws and regulations, and limit access to people over the age of 18 or older if required by applicable law.
We will provide special in-app education on Instagram for those who search for sales or promotions of firearms.
We will not permit people to post offers to sell regulated items that indicate a willingness to evade or help others evade the law. For example, private sellers of firearms in the U.S. will not be permitted to specify “no background check required,” nor can they offer to transact across state lines without a licensed firearms dealer.
We have worked with a number of individuals and organizations on the development of these efforts, which will be implemented and enforced in the coming weeks. We are grateful in particular for the advice offered by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Americans for Responsible Solutions, Sandy Hook Promise, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and Moms Demand Action, which helped us develop an approach for the private sale of firearms. We also appreciate the feedback provided by the Facebook Safety Advisory Board.

As always, we encourage people who see anything that violates our policies to report it to us using the tools found throughout our services. Facebook and Instagram will continue to remove content, and notify law enforcement where appropriate, when we are notified about things shared on our services that suggest a direct, credible risk to others’ safety. We will also continue to strictly enforce our advertising policies.

We believe these collective efforts represent the right approach in balancing people's desire to express themselves while promoting a safe, responsible community.

Facebook © 2014

[ELB]

From Shall Not Be Questioned, via Instapundit:

Facebook has released their statement on the effort by anti-gun groups to ban speech & photos by gun owners. The other side is going to declare a win because they are recognized by Facebook for their efforts. In reality, the only impact is that if a post gets “reported” as being any kind of regulated product (not just firearms) for sale, the poster will be reminded that they should follow applicable laws.

That’s it. Facebook will pop up a message reminding you that you should follow the law if you post a gun for sale and someone complains to them about it. They won’t ban the speech. They won’t ban the images. They won’t even ban promotions of guns for sale at all.

The only speech-related restriction is that they say they will interpret phrases like “no background check required” as being a possible tip off that the seller may be willing to help others evade the law. They don’t require that private sellers agree to run a background check, just that they don’t make “no background check” a selling point of their firearm.

Under these rules, NRA can still do their gun contests, and local Friends committees can still promote the guns they’ll be giving away to FNRA dinner attendees. You can even still post that you’re going to sell a gun privately. The only thing is that Facebook can tell anyone who complains about the posts that they sent a reminder to follow the law.

If the anti-gunners had truly gotten what they wanted – a ban on firearm images or promotions of any kind – we would have completely pulled our personal and community Facebook accounts and no longer visited the site. I suspect that many of the millions of gun owners on the site would have done the same, and that’s not something Facebook can afford. It is, at best, a pyrrhic victory for the other side.

And for nice bit of Schadenfreude:

Moms Demand Illegal Mayors, or whatever the two merged groups are called these days, are declaring total victory in the Facebook/Instagram policy statement that any reported post featuring an offer to sell any regulated product privately will generate a reminder to sellers that they shouldn’t violate the law.

But the Brady Campaign swiftly sent out a letter to their supporters highlighting that the anti-gun groups didn’t get anything they demanded at all, and this is not in any way a victory. The thing is, the Brady Campaign is right on this, at least coming from a gun banner’s perspective.

Remember that what the Moms/Illegal Mayors were demanding was a total ban on any kind of speech/photo that might result in a gun sale.

[tommyg]

I avoid facebook like the plague I don't trust them

[Abraham]

Facebook is Big Brother - stay away...

[WildBill]

Facebook is Big Brother - stay away...

An interesting concept. A website that you voluntarily join to make it easier for Big Brother to collect your personal information. A very clever idea!

[mojo84]

Facebook is Big Brother - stay away...

An interesting concept. A website that you voluntarily join to make it easier for Big Brother to collect your personal information. A very clever idea!

So, the innuendo is that everyone on Facebook is nothing more that voluntary serfs? Interesting.

[WildBill]

Facebook is Big Brother - stay away...

An interesting concept. A website that you voluntarily join to make it easier for Big Brother to collect your personal information. A very clever idea!

So, the innuendo is that everyone on Facebook is nothing more that voluntary serfs? Interesting.

No, the innuendo is that everyone on Facebook is an involuntary serf.

[mojo84]

No. We are on it voluntarily. I also can control what I put on there. So can the others, including the many that are also on this forum, I don't believe anything I put on Facebook is that much more revealing about me than my participation on this forum. Hope you realize, there is no anonimity on the internet. Just perceived anonimity.

[The Dude]

What is this facebook of which you speak?

It's a means by which you can keep up with what your kids are doing... :-)

Until they block you.

Sleep well knowing Vine is now censoring some of the kids' more explicit selfies.

[WildBill]

No. We are on it voluntarily. I also can control what I put on there. So can the others, including the many that are also on this forum, I don't believe anything I put on Facebook is that much more revealing about me than my participation on this forum. Hope you realize, there is no anonimity on the internet. Just perceived anonimity.

That is my point.

[TexasCajun]

Their playground. Their rules. Play by their rules or find a different playground. BIG HINT: all of the playgrounds are basically the same, it's just the names that are different. And FWIW, the stated policy isn't really even a crackdown. They will simply send a reminder to someone who posts any "regulated item" in the WTS, WTT, WTB pages that they need to follow all applicable laws - something that all law-abiding folks do anyway and the same thing that criminals don't do.

As far as the big brother stuff goes. If you're on the internet in any capacity, your info is accessible, identifiable, and marketable. Deal with it.

[mojo84]

No. We are on it voluntarily. I also can control what I put on there. So can the others, including the many that are also on this forum, I don't believe anything I put on Facebook is that much more revealing about me than my participation on this forum. Hope you realize, there is no anonimity on the internet. Just perceived anonimity.

That is my point.

Facebook is not much worse than most other sites on the internet if the people using it are careful about how they use it. Even accessing this and other similar sites can lead to your identity and personal info being exposed regardless how well Charles, forum developer and the site host manages security.

Therefore, I don't think it appropriate to be as critical of those that do use facebook and act as if they are morons for doing so. That is MY point.

[tomtexan]

No. We are on it voluntarily. I also can control what I put on there. So can the others, including the many that are also on this forum, I don't believe anything I put on Facebook is that much more revealing about me than my participation on this forum. Hope you realize, there is no anonimity on the internet. Just perceived anonimity.

That is my point.

Facebook is not much worse than most other sites on the internet if the people using it are careful about how they use it. Even accessing this and other similar sites can lead to your identity and personal info being exposed regardless how well Charles, forum developer and the site host manages security.

Therefore, I don't think it appropriate to be as critical of those that do use facebook and act as if they are morons for doing so. That is MY point.