Private firearm transactions to be prohibited on Facebook

New Delhi: In the wake of string of mass shootings in United States and with ongoing debates on easy access to guns, social networking giant Facebook has prohibited global users from coordinating person-to-person private sales of firearms on its website and on its Instagram photo-sharing service.

U.S. President Barack Obama had also urged social media companies to clamp down on gun sales organised on their platforms.

“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,” Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of product policy, 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,” Bickert said.

Headquartered in California, Facebook, Inc. held its initial public offering in February 2012 and began selling stock to the public three months later, reaching an original peak market capitalization of USD 104 billion. On July 13, 2015, Facebook became the fastest company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to reach a market cap of USD 250 billion. (ANI)