Facebook to Ban Sites That Publish 3D-Printed Gun Blueprints

Facebook is banning sites that publish 3D-gun blueprints from its platform, according to BuzzFeed News. Gun enthusiasts started noticing last week that links to the plans—which enable people with 3D printers to make guns at home—had been banned on the site. “Sharing instructions on how to print firearms using 3D printers is not allowed under our Community Standards,” the company wrote in a statement. “In line with our policies, we are removing this content from Facebook.” Various sites, including CodeIsFreeSpeech, have obtained plans for three guns—including an AR-15 and a Beretta—and have been circulating them on the social platform. Facebook told BuzzFeed that it will begin “scaling up its anti-3D gun policy.” CodeIsFreeSpeech decried the move as “an outrageous display of censorship and bias.” These controversial blueprints are currently the subject of a court battle between the government and Defense Distributed—a company that produces and publishes plans for the 3D guns. Most recently, a court granted a temporary nationwide injunction that prohibited Defense Distributed from publishing its blueprints.