Facebook announced an update to its advertising policies on Friday, which will place age limitations on promotions for a broad range of “weapons accessories.”
Facebook already prohibits ads for the direct sale of potentially lethal weapons, ammunition, and explosives. But a representative for the social media giant told the Washingotn Examiner Friday that advertisers will now be required to manually restrict audiences to users over the age of 18 for promotions of the following items:
- Mounted flashlights for firearms
- Scopes and sights for firearms
- Hunting, self-defense, and military clothing and gear such as shooting targets and clay throwers
- Holsters and belt accessories
- Gun safes, mounts (including bipods), gun cases, and slings
- Equipment and protective clothing (including vests)
- Paint, coatings or wraps for weapons and magazines
The Facebook spokesperson clarified that the aforementioned advertising content will still be allowed to “exist” on Facebook, and the policy change only tweaks which users will be able to see such ads. As such, it should not be referred to as a “ban.”
The spokesperson added that Facebook’s advertising policies have always been stricter than its Community Standards.
The formal announcement came in a blog post.
“We regularly review our policies to identify areas where we can improve. As part of these efforts, we’ve decided to make some changes to the way in which weapons accessories are advertised on Facebook,” it reads.
“Unlike posts from friends or Pages, ads receive paid distribution. This means we have an even higher standard for what is allowed and why we have chosen to limit weapons accessories to an adults only audience.”
The new policy will go into effect for all advertisers on June 21, 2018.
