Facebook advertises military gear during January 6 US attempted coup

Facebook ran adverts for military gear and weapons accessories next to posts about the January 6 attempted insurrection in Washington DC, prompting questions about its safety systems.

Non-profit Tech Transparency Project's (TTP) discovery raised questions about the effectiveness of the social network's content safety measures. It also prompted a number of Democrat senators to ask Mark Zuckerberg to permanently block ads of products clearly designed to be used in armed combat.

Facebook later said it would ban ads for weapon accessories and protective equipment in the US 'out of an abundance of caution' until at least two days after Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021.

TTP's discovery comes weeks after it had found that Facebook was permitting US militia groups to run recruitment ads on its platform.

Research, advocacy 🧮

• Tech Transparency Project (2021). How Facebook Profits from the Insurrection

• Tech Transparency Project (2020). Facebook Ran Recruitment Ads for Militia Groups

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

• https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/facebook-profits-military-gear-ads-capitol-riot

• https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/facebook-pauses-ads-for-gun-accessories-and-military-gear

• https://gizmodo.com/facebook-will-pause-ads-promoting-weapons-accessories-a-1846075789

• https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-impeachment-news-01-14-21/h_f548652ddf7f2ee9784719f5f4606932

• https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-stops-military-gear-weapon-accessory-advertisements-until-january-22-2021-1

• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/26/facebook-ads-combat-gear-rightwing-users

• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-protests-facebook-idUSKBN29L0S5

• https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/trump-impeachment-biden-inauguration/card/bwbNSbrwuN8T9PlSNDpF

• https://thehill.com/policy/technology/534600-facebook-temporarily-bans-ads-for-weapons-accessories-following-capitol