Zuckerberg criticized for allowing advertising for illegal drugs

SAN FRANCISCO:

On Thursday, members of Congress demanded that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg provide them with details about ads for opioids and other illegal drugs on the tech giant's platform.

A letter signed by 19 lawmakers called for details of such ads in light of disturbing reports from the Tech Transparency Project and the Wall Street Journal.

“Meta appears to continue to shirk its social responsibility and disregard its own community guidelines,” the letter states. “What is particularly egregious about this case is that it did not involve user-generated content on the dark web or private social media pages, but rather Meta-approved and monetized advertising.”

The Tech Transparency Project reported in March that it found over 450 ads on Instagram and Facebook selling a range of illegal drugs. Many of the ads “made no secret of their intentions,” showing photos of vials of prescription drugs or blocks of cocaine and urging people to place orders, the nonprofit research group said. The investigation included searching Meta's ad library for terms such as “OxyContin,” “Vicodin” and “pure coke,” TTP reported.

In the letter, the congressmen asked Zuckerberg to respond by September 6. Among other questions, they asked how many ads for illegal drugs Meta had placed on its platform, what was being done about it, and whether such ads were targeted to viewers based on personal health information.

Meta intended to reply to the letter.

“Drug dealers are criminals who operate across platforms and communities. That's why we work with law enforcement to combat this activity,” a Meta spokesperson said in response to an AFP query. “Our systems are designed to proactively detect and combat illegal content. We reject hundreds of thousands of reports for violating our drug policies.”

Meta continues to invest in improving its ability to detect advertisements for illegal drugs, the spokesman added.