U.S. lawmakers press Meta over illicit drug ads

Members of Congress on Thursday called on Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg to give them details regarding ads for opiods and other illicit drugs on the tech titan's platform.

A letter signed by 19 lawmakers pressed for details about such ads given disturbing reports by the Tech Transparency Project and the Wall Street Journal.

"Meta appears to have continued to shirk its social responsibility and defy its own community guidelines," the letter read.

"What is particularly egregious about this instance is that this was not user generated content on the dark web or on private social media pages, but rather they were advertisements approved and monetized by Meta."

The Tech Transparency Project in March reported finding more than 450 ads on Instagram and Facebook selling an array of illegal drugs.

Many of the ads "made no secret of their intentions," showing photos of prescription drug bottles or bricks of cocaine, and encouraging people to place orders, according to the non-profit research group.

The investigation involved searching Meta's Ad Library for terms including "OxyContin," "Vicodin," and "pure coke," TTP reported.

The letter from Congress members to Zuckerberg asked for answers from Zuckerberg by Sept. 6.

Questions included how may illicit drug ads Meta has run on its platform, what it has done about them, and whether viewers were targeted for such ads based on personal health information.

Meta planned to respond to the letter.

"Drug dealers are criminals who work across platforms and communities, which is why we work with law enforcement to help combat this activity," a Meta spokesperson said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"Our systems are designed to proactively detect and enforce against violating content, and we reject hundreds of thousands of ads for violating our drug policies."

Meta continues to invest in improving its ability to catch illicit drug ads, the spokesperson added.