In India, buying a gun is a WhatsApp message away
restofworld.org
An analysis of more than 8,000 messages by Digital Witness Lab at Princeton University finds the Meta-owned platform is a thriving illegal firearms marketplace.
  • Researchers found messages advertising guns across 234 publicly accessible WhatsApp groups in India, which violates Meta’s policies prohibiting firearm sales.
  • The names and descriptions of some groups contain references to gun sales, which can easily be monitored by WhatsApp.
  • The company has faced similar allegations globally. Earlier studies found instances of firearms-related advertisements on Meta’s platforms in the U.S. and the European Union.