Meta’s Rules Prohibiting Firearm Accessory Advertisements Aren’t Always Working

A brand new investigation from tech accountability group The Tech Transparency Project discovered practically 200 totally different advertisements on Facebook and Instagram that it claims violate the corporate’s own rules prohibiting advertisements that “promote the sale or use of weapons, weapon modification accessories, ammunition, or explosives.” Those posts embody advertisements selling gross sales of AR-15 type rifles, a controversial lengthy gun type favored by quite a few mass shooters that’s develop into one of many nationwide gun debate’s most symbolic lodestones. The report comes lower than six months after a separate investigation discovered firearms sellers had been maneuvering across the platform’s guidelines in opposition to peer-to-peer weapons gross sales.

TTP says it found the 173 advertisements, which embody posts selling equipment like optics and magazines, velocity loaders, and gun racks throughout an investigation performed between August 15 and August 29, 2022. Some of the advertisers reportedly spent a whole lot of 1000’s of {dollars} on their campaigns. Though the posts solely signify a small fraction of the advertisements served on Meta platforms, the TTP says its findings nonetheless elevate considerations round Meta’s content material overview system which reportedly depends totally on synthetic intelligence.

“Meta is regularly failing to enforce the rules it has on the books when it comes to gun-related advertising,” TTP mentioned. “Meta is not only allowing such content to reach users in violation of company policy, but it’s reaping a substantial amount of revenue from these ads.”

Some of the advertisements featured within the investigation seem for example methods sellers are probably gaming Meta’s automated overview course of. In one advert, gun vendor KG Gun Works posted a picture selling its AR-15 type rifle together with the firearm’s specs. In the remark part of the publish a commenter asks the vendor for the firearm’s worth. The vendor responded saying “FB does not allow pricing.” Other advertisements from actual world gun shops depict photos of their firearms and direct readers towards their bodily addresses and web sites.

In addition to the posts allegedly selling firearm gross sales the investigation discovered 69 totally different commercials for gun optics and mounts, and dozens of advertisements for so-called “speed loaders,” all of which TTP notes nonetheless seem to violate Meta’s policies. One of the advertisements, positioned by a web page referred to as “Stand for the 2nd Amendment” featured an advert selling its “AR-15 Five Piece Package,” which incorporates an illuminated reticle, a inexperienced laser, and a mini reflex sight, amongst different attachments. Another advert contains a video with textual content studying “EVERY AR-15 OWNER NEEDS THIS.”

Some of the sellers wrote disclaimers saying they don’t promote the sale of weapons or ammunition however then go on to promote gadgets like velocity reloading gadgets which TTP notes are clearly used to reinforce a firearms performance. The investigation additionally discovered 32 advertisements for gun raffles the place people elevate cash for a charity or another trigger by promoting off raffle tickets for a firearm, a few of which included AR-15s. Meta’s insurance policies don’t seem to say raffles particularly.

Meta didn’t instantly reply to Gizmodo’s request for remark.

The TTP report comes simply 4 months after The Washington Post revealed a report mentioning how consumers and sellers on the platform can violate guidelines in opposition to weapons gross sales as much as 10 occasions earlier than they’re kicked off the platform. Gizmodo additionally discovered examples of customers pursuing loopholes across the guidelines with one vendor presenting a Gizmodo reporter with a small handgun although it was listed as a “gun case.”

Meta has taken subject with the Post report, with spokesperson Andy Stone even taking to Twitter to argue the publication’s portrayal of the strike system, “distorts” the corporate’s method. There are some conditions, Stone mentioned, the place a vendor might have their account eliminated after one incidence. It doesn’t assist that the report went stay weeks after a horrific faculty taking pictures in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 kids and two workers lifeless.