Reddit's March 2018 Transaction Ban Shuts Down Firearms-Sales Subreddits
March 2018
On March 21, 2018, Reddit revised its content policy to prohibit transactions involving firearms, ammunition, and explosives, banning subreddits including r/GunsForSale, r/GunDeals, and r/AKMarketplace that connected buyers and sellers.
What happened
On March 21, 2018, Reddit published an updated content policy stating that users may no longer use the platform to solicit or facilitate transactions or gifts involving certain controlled or illicit goods and services, including firearms, ammunition, or explosives; drugs and controlled substances; paid sexual services; stolen goods; personal information; and falsified official documents or currency. The revision retroactively banned communities whose purpose was connecting buyers and sellers of these items.
Among the firearms-related communities banned under the rule were r/GunsForSale, r/GunDeals, and r/AKMarketplace, alongside other transaction-focused communities. Reporting noted that some of these subreddits did not host direct user-to-user sales but instead linked to off-site sellers; Reddit nonetheless treated communities 'dedicated to connecting buyers and sellers' as facilitating prohibited transactions. Reddit emphasized that communities devoted solely to discussion of guns and gun ownership were not affected.
The policy change drew significant user backlash, with thousands of comments posted on the announcement within its first day. The timing — days before the March for Our Lives rally and roughly a month after the Parkland, Florida school shooting — placed Reddit among several technology platforms and retailers that tightened firearms-related policies in early 2018.
Impact
Subreddits that had served as marketplaces or aggregators for private and off-site firearms sales were removed, ending Reddit's role as a venue connecting gun buyers and sellers. The move was part of a broader 2018 crackdown by online platforms on facilitating firearms transactions, and generated substantial backlash from affected user communities.