Summary
Thousands of Facebook and Instagram ads have illegally marketed gun silencers disguised as “fuel filters,” violating U.S. federal law and Meta’s ad policies.
These devices, linked to a Chinese drop-shipping network, are sold for as little as $50 and promoted using recycled videos and stolen content.
Despite some ad removals, new campaigns quickly reappear, targeting niche audiences, including military personnel.
The ads have sparked legal, cybersecurity, and national security concerns, with critics citing Meta’s insufficient transparency and moderation tools.
If tech platforms are too large to properly police their endorsed content, then the only reasonable solution is to shut them down.
Please don’t forget that advertising on these platforms could be moderated if they so chose - it simply isn’t moderated for profitability reasons.
Don’t allow fucks like Meta to push a narrative that they’re simply unable to moderate content while making buckets full of money running a service business that doesn’t even need to exist.
I think the advertising is moderated and that’s one reason why these things are being called fuel filters. It isn’t reasonable to expect Facebook moderators to distinguish a filter from a silencer that looks like a filter. I doubt I could do it myself, especially if it wasn’t specifically what I was looking for.
It isn’t reasonable to expect Facebook moderators to distinguish a filter from a silencer that looks like a filter.
Fuck that; of course we can! If the current mods are incompetent then Meta can fucking PAY MORE to hire competent ones. There is NO excuse.
The US statutes limiting suppressors are just plain stupid. FWIW, in many places in Europe, suppressors are MANDATORY. Yet these devices which reduce obnoxious and potentially dangerous noise are taxed and regulated heavily in the US for some reason. I can only think that the legislators who wrote these statutes are stupid and probably based their laws against suppressors on their hilariously inaccurate depiction in spy movies. Almost all suppressors reduce really really really fucking loud shooting to really loud shooting. They serve to eliminate some noise pollution. What’s not to like?
A lot of our legal prohibitions are largely based on what legislators see reflected in pop-culture and hollywood, because hollywood never takes creative-liberties with portrayals of reality.
Both sides are clueless but in different ways. Dems want to ban rifles that look scary (because clearly that means they shoot bullets faster or some shit) while ignoring the overwhelming majority of gun crimes are pistol related (wow amazing a gun you can fit in a pocket gets used in more crimes then one you have to sling over your back), while republicans want to let 8 year olds have AK’s.
I think the idea of them being illegal is so that if you shoot someone you will be heard. That was always my understanding. If it’s silent you could shoot a bunch of people before anyone realizes making it more dangerous
They’re still there!
