Smith & Wesson Praises Elon Musk and X After Facebook Suspension Over Firearms Content
Smith & Wesson, one of America’s leading firearm manufacturers, thanked Elon Musk and his social media platform X for their commitment to free speech after the company’s Facebook account was temporarily suspended.
The company posted on X last Wednesday, criticizing Facebook’s decision and highlighting its struggle to comply with the platform’s “ever-changing” community guidelines.
“Despite our extensive efforts and resources spent on trying to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines on firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November 22nd, 15 years after its original creation,” the post read.
Smith & Wesson added, “In an era where free speech and the right to bear arms are under constant attack, we want to thank Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech and our constitutional rights guaranteed by the 1st and 2nd Amendments.”
The post encouraged the company’s 1.6 million Facebook followers to explore alternative platforms that “represent these shared values.” The company also shared a screenshot that indicated Facebook suspended the account due to violations of its policies, particularly posts containing weapons.
In response to inquiries, a Meta representative told Fox News the suspension was an error and that the account has since been reinstated. Facebook’s commerce policy prohibits the promotion of buying and selling of weapons. However, retailers have an exception but their content is restricted for minors.
In response to Smith & Wesson’s post, Musk replied, “We restored the gun emoji and believe in the Constitution,” referencing the return of a firearm emoji on X, unlike other platforms such as Apple, which replaced it with a water gun.
The National Association for Gun Rights also praised X for being a platform that encourages the exercise of Constitutional rights. “Thank you for giving us a place to shelter in this storm of Constitution-hating companies,” the group said. In another post, it called X the last place that values free speech and gun rights.
“It is becoming clear that X is one of the last major bastions of 2A and Firearms content on social media,” the group posted. “The noose is slowly tightening everywhere else, seeking to squeeze us out entirely.”
