Facebook and Instagram are clamping down on online gun sales, Facebook has announced.

The social networks have banned private individuals from putting up personal ads selling firearms.

Facebook - which owns the photo-sharing site Instagram - had already stopped gun sales without ID checks, but the new rules want to stop all private deals.

Businesses, including gun licensed gun dealers, are still allowed to advertise guns on both sites, with the new rules cracking down on private, person-to-person sales.

Quoted in the New York Times, Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of product policy, said, "over the last two years, more and more people have been using Facebook to discover products and to buy and sell things to one another.

“We are continuing to develop, test and launch new products to make this experience even better for people and are updating our regulated goods policies to reflect this evolution,” she added.

Facebook has already introduced rules restricting sales of prescription and illegal drugs.