Vern Evans
If you haven’t been following the story of social media giant Facebook suspending popular gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson’s page on its platform, suffice it to say that things continue to get weirder.
According to Smith & Wesson, their Facebook page, with some 1.6 million followers, was abruptly on November 22. The suspension was allegedly due to the company violating the platform’s ever-evolving, hard-to-navigate firearms policy—a policy that has pushed many gun-related companies to other social media platforms over the past few years.
“Despite our extensive efforts and resources spent on trying to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines on firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November 22nd, 15 years after its original creation,” S&W posted November 27 on X, formerly Twitter.
In the post, the manufacturer also encouraged its followers to move away from Facebook and embrace X, which has polices that are far more gun-friendly.
“In an era where free speech and the right to bear arms are under constant attack, we want to thank @elonmusk and @X for supporting free speech and our constitutional rights guaranteed by the 1st and 2nd Amendments,” the post continued. “While we work to reinstate our account, we encourage our 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to seek out platforms that represent these shared values.”
The Twitter post proved S&W’s point about X, as it drew more than 3.1 million views and even a response from Musk himself, saying, “We restored the gun emoji and believe in the Constitution.”
As if by magic, on the same day as the X post, Smith & Wesson’s Facebook account was reinstated. However, a S&W representative told Fox News that the company still can’t get an answer to why it was suspended in the first place.
“Despite multiple attempts to reach Facebook to discuss the matter, to date we have not had direct communications with any of their staff members,” the S&W representative said. “No rationale was given for the reinstatement beyond a comment on social media from a Facebook representative stating that the suspension had been ‘in error.’”
The representative told Fox News that in the suspension notice, Facebook referenced five posts dating back to December 2023 that they “suggest did not follow their community guidelines.”
“The posts in question included consumer promotional campaigns, charitable auctions. and product release announcements,” the representative explained. “While Facebook’s policies are ever-changing, which creates a burden for users to comply with, we do not believe this content violated any of Facebook’s policies or community guidelines, and similar posts have been published in the past without issue.”
In the end, Smith & Wesson will likely never know why their page was targeted and suspended, since Facebook doesn’t have to reveal such information. But the suspension reinforced the importance of other, more gun-friendly social media platforms.
“While we were encouraged by the reinstatement of our account, we were similarly disappointed by the number of other users reacting to our statement on X that commented that they have had very similar experiences with their accounts being de-platformed without warning,” the representative said. “While we obviously do not know the details of those instances, we encourage Meta to continue working towards a more inclusive platform which allows the freedom for respectful dialogue from all viewpoints, which is a hallmark of American society.”
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