ALBANY — Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office has reached an agreement with Facebook and its photo-sharing service Instagram that clamps down on illegal firearms sales on the popular social media platforms.
In a conference call Wednesday with company executives, Schneiderman said the deal would help prevent the Internet from becoming “a 21st-century black market in illegal goods in dangerous and illegal goods that place our families and communities at risk.”
The action eliminates web pages advertising gun sales without federal background checks.
“In New York, that’s illegal,” Schneiderman said, adding that the same types of guns used in recent mass shootings often turn up as commodities on Facebook.
Facebook will wipe out pages that offer to sell weapons without background checks or across state lines illegally, and law enforcement entities will have a direct line to the companies to report pages that violate the law.
Also, Facebook will require private gun sellers to acknowledge the relevant laws that apply to them, and create venues for better education about the various state laws surrounding gun sales over the Internet.
Minors will be blocked from viewing reported pages on which guns are sold
Schneiderman said none of the changes agreed to by Facebook and Instagram would prevent anyone from engaging in legal sales. He said it is the online version of the tightening of protocols around gun shows that his office has worked on for years.