A new study suggests there is a growing market in the illegal trade of guns and weapons in Libya via social media sites, in particular Facebook. The report covered 18 months and found sales of a wide range of items – from handguns to rocket-propelled grenades. Most were offered for sale on “closed” or “secret” Facebook groups.
The illicit sale of guns is a violation of Facebook’s terms of service, and a spokesperson said they encourage people to report any such postings. The report was commissioned by the Small Arms Survey, and used data collected by Armament Research Services (ARES) on a total of 1,346 sales. Researchers believe this is just a fraction of the full trade taking place on social media.
The study will be released on Thursday, but BBC Newsnight has seen an advance copy. Col Gaddafi was an obsessive buyer of weapons and tightly controlled the market. During his 40 years in power, it is estimated he spent more than $30bn (£20bn) on arms. When rebel forces toppled his regime in 2011, the stockpiles were thrown open and a large black market emerged. Researchers believe the trade on social media began to take off in 2013, and is still growing.
They looked at the trade of small arms and light weapons across sites, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram, and found the largest volume of sales on Facebook. The majority of weapons being traded were handguns or rifles. The most popular rifle was the Kalashnikov, which sells – they found – on average for 1,800 Libyan dinars ($1,300; £930).
