On January 16, National Guard troops gather in front of the US Capitol.
Eric Thayer / Getty Images
Facebook temporarily bans ads for military equipment and weapons accessories in the US until after the president’s inauguration on January 20, the company said on Saturday.
“We are cautiously banning ads that advertise gun accessories and protective equipment in the US until at least January 22nd,” the company said in an update on a blog post on Monday about the preparations of the social network in advance of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden .
“We are already banning advertising for guns, ammunition and weapon enhancements like silencers,” the company said. “But we will now also ban ads for accessories like gun safes, vests and gun holsters in the US.”
Facebook had adverts for “holsters, body armor and other military paraphernalia in the newsfeeds of people who looked into content about the coup attempt in the US Capitol earlier this month,” said Buzzfeed News, who spoke about the ban earlier Saturday and had over the gun-related ads reported earlier in the week. Legislators and Facebook employees have complained to the social network about the ads, the news agency said.
After the storming of the Capitol on January 6th by supporters of President Donald Trump, social networks like Facebook were criticized Disinformation could not be effectively monitored and violent content on their websites. And along with law enforcement and civil rights groups, the platforms are preparing for the possibility of more violence in the days leading up to inauguration.
On Friday, Facebook announced that inauguration day will block the creation of new events on its platform that take place near places like the White House, Capitol, and state capitol buildings.
And on Monday, Facebook said it would remove content from its main social network and Instagram that included the phrase “Stop the Steal” used by Trump and his supporters to spread unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud. A number of people said such allegations led to the violence in the Capitol, in which several people died, including a Capitol police officer.
CNET’s Abrar Al-Heeti and Queenie Wong contributed to this report.