‘Build your own’ gun advice found on Twitter and Facebook

TWITTER and Facebook have been criticised after gun plans for 3D printers were found circulating on their platforms, amid concerns that they could be used by criminals.

The Daily Telegraph was able to download blueprints to print plastic pistols, which are illegal under UK law, after discovering links on the networks to a website hosting the schematics.

Last month, Facebook pledged to ban the sharing of such information, but its users have successfully evaded its automated filtering system by slightly altering the website links.

Philip Boyce, a firearms expert, said that the weapons could “without a doubt” be used to kill someone and that gangs were becoming more likely to use them as 3D printers become “cheaper and cheaper”.

Mr Boyce said that such weapons, which “can be quite successfully printed on 3D printers”, only fire one or two times before degrading but that “one or two shots is more than enough”.

After it was informed of the posts, Facebook removed all five. However, Twitter deleted just one of four posts found on its platform.

Julian Knight, a Conservative member of the Commons digital, culture,

‘It’s absolutely shocking... This can be got around with something that a five-year-old can work out’

media and sport committee, said: “[It is] absolutely shocking …that this information is so easily found and so accessible. It runs a coach and horses through our strict gun policies in the UK.

“Facebook keep banging on about how they are employing thousands of extra people in order to effectively monitor such activities yet this can be got around with frankly something that a five-year-old could work out.”

The disclosure will raise concerns that Facebook and Twitter are not doing enough to police the sharing of blueprints which enable the printing of easily accessible, deadly weapons.

In August, five US senators wrote to several social media networks, including Facebook and Twitter, urging them to ban access to the blueprint files which they said “would make available to any person deadly weapons that are untraceable and undetectable”.

A Facebook spokesman said: “Sharing material on how to manufacture firearms using 3D printers or CNC milling machines is not allowed under our Community Standards. In line with our policies, we remove this content from Facebook as soon as we identify it.”

Twitter said that it did not comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons.