After its Facebook account was suspended, the favored American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson thanked Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech amid what it called ongoing attacks against the First and Second Amendments.
Andy Stone, a representative for Facebook’s parent company, Meta, told Fox News Digital that the account had been suspended in error and that it has since been restored.
In a Friday post on X, nonetheless, Smith & Wesson emphasized the importance of Musk’s stance on free speech, criticizing Meta for suspending their account after the platform flagged several of its posts for promoting the sale of weapons.
Founded in 1852 in Norwich, Connecticut, today Smith & Wesson relies in Maryville, Tennessee, and is one of the crucial recognized gun brands in America, reporting $535.8 million in sales within the 2024 fiscal 12 months.
Smith & Wesson said that “despite our extensive efforts and resources spent on attempting to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines on firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November twenty second, 15 years after its original creation.”
The manufacturer shared a screenshot of the suspension notice it had received from Facebook through which the platform said several posts dated Nov. 22, 13 and July 18 violated the principles on promoting weapons.
Facebook’s commerce policy prohibits the promotion of shopping for, selling and trading of weapons, ammunition and explosives.
Nevertheless, in accordance with Facebook’s parent company Meta’s website, there may be an exception for legitimate brick-and-mortar and online retailers, though their content remains to be restricted for minors.
Although its account has since been reinstated, Smith & Wesson encouraged its 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to “search out platforms” that represent the “shared values” of free speech and the best to bear arms.
“In an era where free speech and the best to bear arms are under constant attack, we would like to thank Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech and our constitutional rights guaranteed by the first and 2nd Amendments,” said Smith & Wesson.
Musk responded to the post by saying, “[we] consider within the Structure.” He also identified that X had resumed allowing users to post the gun emoji after it was replaced by a water gun by Twitter in 2018.
The National Association for Gun Rights, which is a Second Amendment advocacy group with over 4.5 million activists, also chimed in, saying, “Thanks for giving us a spot to shelter on this storm of Structure-hating corporations.”
In a separate post, the association called X one in every of the last holdouts totally free speech and gun rights.
“It’s becoming clear that X is one in every of the last major bastions of 2A and Firearms content on social media,” said the group, adding, “the noose is slowly tightening in every single place else, in search of to squeeze us out entirely.”
This text was edited to reflect latest information from Meta concerning the Smith & Wesson account being suspended in error.
After its Facebook account was suspended, the favored American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson thanked Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech amid what it called ongoing attacks against the First and Second Amendments.
Andy Stone, a representative for Facebook’s parent company, Meta, told Fox News Digital that the account had been suspended in error and that it has since been restored.
In a Friday post on X, nonetheless, Smith & Wesson emphasized the importance of Musk’s stance on free speech, criticizing Meta for suspending their account after the platform flagged several of its posts for promoting the sale of weapons.
Founded in 1852 in Norwich, Connecticut, today Smith & Wesson relies in Maryville, Tennessee, and is one of the crucial recognized gun brands in America, reporting $535.8 million in sales within the 2024 fiscal 12 months.
Smith & Wesson said that “despite our extensive efforts and resources spent on attempting to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines on firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November twenty second, 15 years after its original creation.”
The manufacturer shared a screenshot of the suspension notice it had received from Facebook through which the platform said several posts dated Nov. 22, 13 and July 18 violated the principles on promoting weapons.
Facebook’s commerce policy prohibits the promotion of shopping for, selling and trading of weapons, ammunition and explosives.
Nevertheless, in accordance with Facebook’s parent company Meta’s website, there may be an exception for legitimate brick-and-mortar and online retailers, though their content remains to be restricted for minors.
Although its account has since been reinstated, Smith & Wesson encouraged its 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to “search out platforms” that represent the “shared values” of free speech and the best to bear arms.
“In an era where free speech and the best to bear arms are under constant attack, we would like to thank Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech and our constitutional rights guaranteed by the first and 2nd Amendments,” said Smith & Wesson.
Musk responded to the post by saying, “[we] consider within the Structure.” He also identified that X had resumed allowing users to post the gun emoji after it was replaced by a water gun by Twitter in 2018.
The National Association for Gun Rights, which is a Second Amendment advocacy group with over 4.5 million activists, also chimed in, saying, “Thanks for giving us a spot to shelter on this storm of Structure-hating corporations.”
In a separate post, the association called X one in every of the last holdouts totally free speech and gun rights.
“It’s becoming clear that X is one in every of the last major bastions of 2A and Firearms content on social media,” said the group, adding, “the noose is slowly tightening in every single place else, in search of to squeeze us out entirely.”
This text was edited to reflect latest information from Meta concerning the Smith & Wesson account being suspended in error.
