In Letter to Meta, Rep. Robin Kelly Demands Improved Ad Regulation for Gun Silencers
WASHINGTON – U.S. Reps. Robin Kelly (IL-02) and Mike Thompson (CA-04), alongside 34 other legislators, have denounced Meta’s failure to adequately regulate advertisements for gun silencers on its platform. In a letter to company CEO Mark Zuckerberg, they expressed concern over misleading ads disguising gun silencers as car parts, which have been seen by tens of thousands of viewers. This is especially alarming given that silencer use has increased dramatically since 2017.
“Meta’s policy is to prohibit advertisements and posts that encourage committing felonies and ban ads that promote weapons sales, including firearm accessories such as silencers,” Members wrote in the letter. “Despite this, according to Wired, only 74 of the 2,800 ads for these devices that it identified have been removed by Meta’s moderation process. Even when the ads in question had been removed, nearly identical ads surfaced from different accounts.”
For nearly a century, silencers have been heavily regulated due to their frequent use in crimes. Silencers were used in high-profile mass shootings, including in Monterey Park, California, in 2023 and Virginia Beach in 2019.
The letter continues to share testimony from a survivor of the Virginia Beach shooting: "The shooter’s firearm sounded like a nail gun… had it been a regular gunshot, we would’ve definitely known a lot sooner…[and] could’ve all secured ourselves.”