Facebook has banned private gun sales

Facebook
(Image credit: Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images)

Facebook banned private gun sales on its site and on Instagram, The New York Times reports the social network announced Friday. The policy change does not apply to licensed gun sellers and gun clubs, which can still maintain profiles on each site.

Facebook, which now allows peer-to-peer payment transactions via private message, had already banned sales of marijuana, pharmaceuticals, and illegal drugs.

"Over the last two years, more and more people have been using Facebook to discover products and to buy and sell things to one another," Facebook head of product policy Monika Bickert said in a statement. "We are continuing to develop, test, and launch new products to make this experience even better for people and are updating our regulated goods policies to reflect this evolution."

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.