A report this week from the New York Times has documented how Facebook Groups is being used for the wrong reasons, as people are apparently selling high-powered weapons in the Middle East, to people affiliated with terrorist and militant groups.
According to the report, people from Libya, Syria, Iraq and other Middle East nations are flocking to online bazaars on Facebook Groups to shop for, and even buy the same powerful weapons used by terrorist groups. The NYT report noted that there is “a seemingly bottomless assortment of weapons provided to Iraq’s government forces by the Pentagon during the long American occupation,” all available for purchase in various groups.
The report, however, adds that Facebook is taking action. The company prohibits the sale of such items via its Groups feature, and with that in mind, it was able to close down six of the seven offending pages, all reported by the NYT . The only remaining site is a Facebook Group that merely allows people to talk about weapons and post images of them, but doesn’t allow buying and selling.
The whole controversy started when Armament Research Services released a report earlier in April, documenting online weapons deals conducted in Libya. The weapons sold included missiles, grenade launchers, and even rockets, all bought and sold via Facebook Groups. The report adds that other countries beset by conflict, including Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, are also home to such transactions.
Facebook released a statement to the New York Times , saying that it is determined to enforce the policies it updated earlier in 2016, which prohibited transactions involving firearms or weapons made via Facebook Groups.
“Since we were offering features like that, we thought we wanted to make clear that this is not a site that wants to facilitate the private sales of firearms,” said Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy.