1 March 12, 2020 Senator Bob Menendez 528 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Jack Reed 728 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Ed Markey 255 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Mazie Hirono 713 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Chris Murphy 136 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Sheldon Whitehouse 530 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Richard Blumenthal 706 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Patty Murray 115 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Kamala Harris 112 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Dick Durbin 711 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Elizabeth Warren 309 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Amy Klobuchar 425 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Senator Cory Booker 717 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senators, Thank you for your letter of February 27 regarding Facebook’s policies around the sale of firearms in private groups. As you may know, our Community Standards apply to all content posted on Facebook. Included within those Community Standards is our Regulated Goods policy, which prohibits the purchase, sale, gifting, exchange, and transfer of firearms — including firearm parts, ammunition, or 3D printing files for firearms or firearm parts — between private individuals on Facebook. Please find answers to your specific questions below. 2 1. On average, how many private group accounts does Facebook suspend each month for violating the firearm sale policy? We do not have specific numbers for groups available at this time. However in our most recent Community Standards Enforcement Report,1 released in November of 2019, we noted that in Q2 2019 we had taken action on 2.5 million pieces of firearm sale content, an increase from approximately 670,000 pieces of firearm sale content in the previous quarter. This improvement increased our proactive detection to above 90%. 2. On average, how many users within private groups does Facebook suspend each month for violating the firearm sale policy? Please see response to question (1), above. 3. What measures does Facebook have in place to ensure that if it permanently suspends a private group for violating the gun sale policy, users from that group cannot create another private group under a different name? Facebook has policies in place to protect against repeat offenders and recidivist behavior. These policies include looking out for specific types of conduct and activity. While we cannot provide specific details lest bad actors use the information to game the system, Facebook would not allow group administrators to set up a new group similar to a previously removed group. 4. What proactive measures is Facebook taking to ensure that users in private groups are not able to skirt Facebook's ban on gun sales, including by referring potential buyers to apps such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, Wickr, or any alternative communication platform? Our Community Standards apply across Facebook, including in public and private groups. Per our policy on Regulated Goods,2 we do not allow the sale of regulated goods and remove content that attempts to offer, sell, gift, exchange, or transfer firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, or explosives between private individuals, unless posted by a Page representing a brick-and-mortar store, a legitimate website, or a brand or government agency (such as a police or fire department). To enforce our Community Standards, we have introduced tools that allow us to proactively detect and remove violating content using advances in technology including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision. We do this by analyzing specific examples of bad content that have been reported and removed to identify patterns of behavior. Those patterns can be used to teach our software to proactively identify similar content. Our proactive AI technology is able to detect content that includes images of firearms and signals that indicate an intent to sell (including posting 1 2 https://transparency.facebook.com/community-standards-enforcement#regulated-goods https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/regulated_goods 3 contact information such as phone numbers and usernames for other social media accounts and price information.) 5. What policies does Facebook have in place to alert law enforcement to instances of gun trafficking on its platforms? Specifically, in those states where peer-to-peer sales without a federal firearm license are illegal, does Facebook refer such attempted sales to state and local law enforcement? Law enforcement plays a critical role in keeping people safe, and we have a long history of working successfully with them to address a wide variety of threats. When we receive reports or otherwise find content that violates our policies--including content related to gun trafficking--we remove it. When we see credible threats of imminent harm, we proactively reach out to law enforcement. We disclose account records in accordance with our terms of service and applicable law, and we have developed tools designed to help law enforcement obtain quick feedback on their inquiries and gather evidence in connection with official investigations.3 6. Facebook claims that over 93% of the firearm sales content removed from its platform is done proactively. Thus Facebook relies on user reports to make up the difference. How does Facebook expect users to report on violations within private groups? We remove much of such content that violates our policy on regulated goods before people have a chance to see it. Our technology continues to improve, and as a result of these improvements we've seen a significant increase in both the amount of firearm content we remove and the amount we're able to proactively detect. Our work is not done, however, and we continue to strengthen our enforcement against harmful content. Outside of groups, we encourage our community to report buyers or sellers who aren't acting in good faith through the “Report Item” option available on every product profile. If you see an item for sale that you believe violates Facebook's Commerce Policies, you can easily report the listing. You can also report buyers and sellers if you see activity that you think should not be on the platform. In addition, we have a help center article for users seeking to report outside of the listing view." Thank you, again, for the opportunity to answer your questions. I look forward to working with your office going forward. Sincerely, Kevin Martin Vice President, U.S. Public Policy 3 https://www.facebook.com/safety/groups/law/guidelines/ and https://www.facebook.com/records/login/