Gun And Counterfeit Sales Find A Home On Twitter

Twitters controversial website hosts guns, fakes, fraud, and scams

August 27, 2019, Los Angeles, CA – Twitter's just can't avoid encouraging criticism and scrutiny. Already facing allegations of political manipulation, suppressing information, and facilitating hate and violence, the social media micro-blog also hosts gun sales, along with counterfeits, fraudulent items, and scams.

Twitter's policy is clear;

• "Twitter prohibits the sale or promotion or sale of counterfeit goods on the Twitter platform."
• "Twitter takes the safety of our users seriously [...] You may not use our service for any unlawful purpose or in furtherance of illegal activities. This includes selling, buying, or facilitating transactions in illegal goods or services, as well as certain types of regulated goods or services [...] weapons, including firearms, ammunition, and explosives, and instructions on making weapons (e.g. bombs, 3D printed guns, etc.)"

The Counterfeit Report, an award-winning consumer advocate and counterfeit watchdog, found it challenging to reconcile Twitter's illusory policies with some of the products offered for sale on Twitter.com. Keyword searches as simple as "gun for sale" and "ammo for sale" returned the tweets below offering prohibited items. Listing images remove all doubt as to the product offered;

If you bought the CREE branded flashlight tweeted below - you got a counterfeit. CREE® does not make flashlights. Common 18650 Lithium-ion ("Li-ion") batteries are used in the flashlights, as well as laptops, cameras, battery packs, hoverboards, e-cigarette and vape devices.

Unscrupulous China salvagers re-label recycled unprotected batteries as "new" and sell them at cheap prices with wild capacity claims creating a dangerous and potentially deadly item for unsuspecting consumers. The batteries have an overheating and fire risk turning them into exploding bombs with serious or deadly consequences. There is no legitimate 18650 battery over 3800mAh. The 9900mAh batteries tweeted below fraudulent. If you don't use them, why should you care?

• If you fly; between March 1991 and February 2019, the FAA reported 241 air/airport incidents (fires and smoke) involving lithium battery carried as cargo or baggage have been recorded. Three major aircraft accidents were reported where lithium battery cargo shipments were implicated, but not proven to be the source of the fire. Li-ion batteries are often illegally shipped or mailed in improper packaging or without required disclosure to the carrier.
• If you are a neighbor; the first reported death from a Li-ion battery was reported in May 2018 by the Pinellas County (Florida) Medical Examiner's office. A 38-year-old Florida man died when an e-cigarette device exploded causing a "projectile wound to the head" and burning 80% of his body. The home had extensive fire damage.
• If you are nearby; thousands of reported fire and explosion incidents resulting in emergency-room visits in the U.S. can be found, including acute injuries, meaning that the victim required hospitalization and may have suffered the loss of a body part. The batteries are often used close the users face or put in pockets.

The microSD® trademark is licensed to conforming, authentic computer memory cards commonly used in cell phones, cameras, and laptops. The capacity of counterfeit cards is usually wildly inflated from what is published on the card, and the fake items may fail, destroy data, and install malware. There is no such product as the 32GB microSD or 64GB microSDHC cards tweeted below in any legitimate product line or licensed by SD-3C, LLC, the trademark holder. It's a counterfeit.

Twitter is a micro-blog, not a marketplace, and its commitment to consumer safety and stopping counterfeit, dangerous, and potentially deadly products listed on their websites is conspicuously lacking.

In 2015, Twitter's then-chief executive, Dick Costolo, acknowledged the problem in a company memo: "We suck at dealing with abuse and trolls on the platform and we've sucked at it for years."

They still do.