Leading gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson has thanked Elon Musk for supporting free speech on his social media platform X after being banned from Facebook.
The company was reportedly banned for “promoting the sale of firearms,” violating the platform’s terms of service.
“Facebook’s commerce policy prohibits the promotion of buying, selling and trading of weapons, ammunition and explosives,” the New York Post reports. “However, according to Facebook’s parent company Meta’s website, there is an exception for legitimate brick-and-mortar and online retailers, though their content is still restricted for minors.”
Facebook has since reinstated the company’s account, claiming that the ban was done in error.
Though it was reinstated, Smith & Wesson thanked Musk in a post to X on Friday.
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.
In an era where free speech and the right to… pic.twitter.com/cJkIni54kV
— Smith & Wesson Inc. (@Smith_WessonInc) November 27, 2024
The company wrote, “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.”
“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.
Finally, Smith & Wesson urged its fans and followers to “seek out platforms that represent these shared values.”
The post concluded, “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. ”
We restored the gun emoji and believe in the Constitution
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 27, 2024
Musk responded to the post by saying, “We restored the gun emoji and believe in the Constitution.”
