Facebook is banning private sales of guns on its social network and on Instagram, in a statement by the company late Friday.

Although Facebook has never been directly involved in gun sales, it has served as a forum for gun sales to be negotiated. The ban applies to private, person-to-person sales of guns, though not to posts by licensed gun dealers. Facebook already prohibits people from offering marijuana, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs for sale, and is updating its policy to include guns.

"Over the last two years, more and more people have been using Facebook to discover products and to buy and sell things to one another," said Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of global product policy. "We are continuing to develop, test and launch new products to make this experience even better for people and are updating our regulated goods policies to reflect this evolution."

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