Facebook apologizes after users sell guns, drugs and animals on Marketplace feature

Facebook apologizes after users sell guns, drugs and animals on Marketplace feature

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SALT LAKE CITY — Facebook recently apologized for the misuse of its new Marketplace feature, after people used the site to sell drugs, guns, animals and other prohibited items.

“As we expanded Marketplace access, we encountered a technical issue that prevented our reviewing system from identifying some posts that violated our commerce policies and community standards,” Mary Ku, a director for product management at Facebook said in a statement.

Other items for sale spotted on Marketplace include human children, a snake, a baby hedgehog and even sexual services.

“We are working to fix the problem and will be closely monitoring our systems to ensure we are properly identifying and removing violations before giving more people access to Marketplace,” Ku said. “We apologize for this issue.”

Facebook Marketplace was introduced on Oct. 3, 2016 and was intended to make buying and selling items between users easier. Users— about 450 million, to be exact— had previously only sold items on Facebook Groups, according to a statement from Facebook. Marketplace was created to make these connections more convenient for communities.

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Lindsey Johnson

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