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Meta is running ads on Facebook and Instagram that can point users to online marketplaces selling illegal drugs, including the likes of cocaine, opioids, and others. This isn’t the first time the social media giant has been peddling drugs either, and it’s already facing a federal investigation over its role in the sale of illicit drugs.
An investigation from the Wall Street Journal states that the company continues to make revenue from ads that blatantly violate its policies banning the promotion of sales of illicit or recreational drugs. A review conducted by WSJ in July found “dozens of ads marketing illegal substances such as cocaine and prescription opioids” as recently as July 26.
A separate investigation by the non-profit organisation Tech Transparency Project (TTP) found more than 450 ads on Instagram and Facebook selling various drugs, with most making no secret of their intentions, showing “photos of prescription drug bottles, piles of pills and powders, or bricks of cocaine, and encouraging users to place orders.” Previous investigations by the TTP in 2021 and 2022 also show that Instagram allowed teenagers as young as 13 to find drugs for sale on the platform “in as little as two clicks.”
Click on these ads takes users to related Facebook pages or Instagram accounts that in turn link to either Telegram channels or WhatsApp groups where dealers show off their drugs, provide rates, and give instructions on how to place orders.
Meta does have an automated review process in place for any ads that it shows on its platforms, in addition to AI tools that moderate content. However, these tools haven’t been very effective, and the use of photos to show the drugs seems to bypass Meta’s content moderation systems.
Recent layoffs have also affected content moderation teams, meaning a smaller workforce to keep such ads in check. It’s also difficult to take direct action against Meta or other such companies regarding ads, as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects online platforms from what third parties post on them, with few exceptions.
A company spokesperson reported that Meta disabled many of the ads spotted by the Journal 48 hours after they went live, with all of them now removed for violating Meta’s content policies. After being contacted, Meta has also banned the accounts of users who created the ads. It also claims to use insights about new adversarial tactics collected from investigating these ads to do additional sweeps.
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