Why is it so difficult?

If you want to succeed on social media, it’s important to understand the lens through which Meta, who own and run Facebook and Instagram, view activity on their platforms that involves firearms. It’s their definitions and ideology that are used to filter what you do there.

Meta implements a policy called their Community Guidelines. This is a public document that defines how they manage different kinds of content. It’s one definition for all countries, rolled out globally. That means the UK is subject to restrictions around firearms that are primarily written based on gun control arguments in the United States. These policies have taken shape over several years, often immediately following awful events.

Meta uses ‘AI’ and ‘Machine Learning’ and thousands of employees worldwide in ‘Content Review Teams’ to make decisions about what you’re posting all the time, not just when somebody reports it. The challenge here is that these digital tools and real teams are ‘trained’ by people that have no knowledge of what is acceptable under UK law. Sometimes the technology gets it wrong, sometimes the person gets it wrong. Either way it leaves you feeling as though you’d rather not even bother.

Here’s the rub! If you’re thinking at this point that you’d rather avoid social media altogether then you’re missing a significant opportunity for your business. In the UK 100% of people aged 16-35 use the internet every day. That figure is still 85.7% for ages 55-64. People in the UK now spend an average of 3hrs 40minutes online each day! Instagram has 35million users in the UK, Facebook has 44million, and is used at least once a day by 44% of the UK population.

That’s a storefront not to be missed.



Do I already have a problem?

Meta’s measures can begin with a ‘shadow ban’ where what your sharing isn’t shown to anyone unless they’re already following you. Next restricting your content so it’s only shown to people that have relaxed their own ‘sensitive content’ settings. Then your posts can be removed, and with continual violations your account can be restricted for a time or closed entirely.

As a starting point there is now an easy way to find out if you’ve already done anything that is restricting your account.

On your personal Facebook profile press the three dots menu button, select ‘profile status’ near the top. On a business page this is called ‘page status’. Here, Meta will share if you have any violations already. They will tell you barely anything about why, but they will give you the opportunity to remove the post, edit it, or appeal their decision. The same can be found on Instagram using the three-line menu button on your profile and scrolling to the bottom to find the ‘account status’ button.

If you can see something obvious from the list that follows you can edit the post and appeal the decision to have it reinstated. Sometimes there isn’t anything wrong with the post, it’s just that the policies have been improperly implemented and you can simply appeal to have it reinstated. If you can’t see an obvious way forward you can delete it entirely to remove the restriction.

Explore this part of your account and check it regularly to see if any restrictions are being applied.



What can I do?

Posting of firearms content by ‘legitimate brick-and-mortar entities, including retail businesses, websites’ is allowed on Meta’s platforms, but they are considered restricted goods under their Community Guidelines. This means that you’re more likely to trigger the things we’ve already discussed. It’s also important to note that Meta completely prohibits the paid advertising of weapons, ammunition or explosives via their Advertising Standards. Don’t even try to buy an Ad for anything related to firearms, it’ll just end in disappointment.

Here are some ways to reduce the risks when simply posting about firearms:

1. Don’t use Hashtags that are different to the content you’re posting. It’s an indication to Meta that what you’re posting could be misleading and needs to be reviewed.
2. Don’t use banned or restricted Hashtags. You can search for hashtags before you use them on Instagram and see if they’re flagged as sensitive or restricted.
3. Try using five Hashtags, certainly no more than thirty. Too many can be considered spammy even if it has nothing to do with guns.
4. Avoid anything that looks like the Private Sale of Guns. Trade sales are accepted by Meta but often it struggles to tell the difference. Terms as simple as ‘where do you get yours?’ can be misconstrued sadly. Adding a price is equally ill advised.
5. What you write matters as much as the photograph or video. Be careful about what you’re saying as much as what you’re posting. Both are reviewed by Meta’s technology. Get online and review the policies yourself to be sure. Just search for Meta Transparency Firearms.
6. Avoid using third party tools to access or run your accounts.