A bipartisan group of 19 US legislators sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to express concerns that the social media giant is failing to prevent illegal drug ads from running on Facebook and Instagram.
The members of Congress — including US Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) and Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) — referenced recent reports by the Wall Street Journal and the nonprofit Tech Transparency Project that uncovered a slew of explicit drug ads across Meta apps.
The ads transferred Meta users to third-party platforms selling prescription pills, cocaine and other drugs.
“At a hearing before the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary in January 2024, you personally apologized to the parents of children who have died following their exposure to exploitation, harassment, and drugs online,” the Thursday letter said.
“Despite this and your company’s own Community Standards, Meta approved ads throughout 2024 that displayed obvious drug sales.”
A Meta spokesperson directed The Post to a statement given to the Journal two weeks ago.
“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 said in the statement. “We continue to invest resources and further improve our enforcement on this kind of content.”
The legislators said the drug ads were not buried in the dark web, but approved and monetized by Meta on Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp.
Some of the illegal ads were promoted by social media pages with obvious names, like one called “Ecstasy Meds,” the letter said.
While researchers were easily able to find a score of illegal drug ads, Meta somehow missed them, the legislators said.
The letter included a list of 15 questions related to the drug ads and asked Zuckerberg to respond by Sept. 6.
Meta confirmed to The Post that it received the letter and plans to respond.
In March, the Journal reported that US federal prosecutors were investigating Meta for drug ads found on its platforms. In July, the Journal and the Tech Transparency Project found that Meta was still allowing illicit drug ads on its platforms.
The legislators said they worry about children’s safety, since so many young Americans use Meta platforms.
“In 2022, an average of 22 minors, ages 14 to 18, died in the US each week from drug overdoses,” the letter said. “Fentanyl is often found in counterfeit oxycodone, benzodiazepines, and other prescription pills — all of which have been found on your platforms, including in advertisements.”
The legislators said they have tried to establish data privacy and security protections for American users on Meta platforms but have “been met with friction” from Meta that such protections would disrupt its personalization features.
“If this personalization you are providing is pushing advertisements of illicit drugs to vulnerable Americans, then it is difficult for us to believe that you are not complicit in the trafficking of illicit drugs,” the letter said.
