- 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.
When Rahul, a gun seller from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, first used WhatsApp to expand his customer base over a year ago, he was unsure of his prospects, he told Rest of World. Now, he fields at least 100 business queries on the Meta-owned app every day, he said.
Rahul, whose last name has been withheld by Rest of World because he feared repercussions, regularly posts photos of his wares on WhatsApp groups that he joined through publicly accessible links or started himself. Prospective customers contact him directly. Rahul doesn’t bother too much with why they want guns. “Someone might be buying it to kill someone, but to us, they say that they’re buying it for their safety only,” he said.
Hordes of sellers like Rahul are contributing to the “thriving” illegal firearms marketplace that has emerged on WhatsApp in India, according to research conducted by Digital Witness Lab — a Princeton University center that builds tools to investigate social media platforms — which was shared exclusively with Rest of World.
The trade appears to be rampant even though Meta’s policies prohibit the sale or advertisement of firearms, and India has among the strictest legislations around gun ownership in the world. Such exchanges may be in violation of the law. An Indian police official told The Statesman in 2021 that gun sellers advertising on social media platforms were breaching India’s laws, which mandate licenses from the government to own and trade in firearms.
Between April 2024 and January 2025 — a timeframe that included the country’s general elections last year — Digital Witness Lab’s researchers found more than 8,000 messages advertising firearms across 234 WhatsApp groups in India.
This story was originally published in restofworld.org. Read the full story here.
