Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook is under probe for allegedly profiting from the sale of illegal drugs. Federal prosecutors based in the state of Virginia, USA are looking into whether the platforms owned by Meta are facilitating the trade.
Media reports indicate that the company was subpoenaed last year. The subpoenas are requesting documents related to “violative drug content on Meta’s platforms and/or the illicit sale of drugs via Meta’s platforms”. In addition, as part of a criminal grand jury probe, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also part of the investigations.
“The sale of illicit drugs is against our policies and we work to find and remove this content from our services. Meta proactively cooperates with law enforcement authorities to help combat the sale and distribution of illicit drugs.”, this was the statement Meta offered in response to a query from the Wallstreet Journal.
It also emerged that researchers who collected data on Facebook prescription drug ads for a 2022 Journal publication have been subpoenaed. To prevent the promotion and sale of illegal drugs, the social media company utilizes external screening. LegitScript verifies advertisers promoting prescription medications on Meta platforms. Additionally, researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham previously partnered with Facebook to identify problematic drug-related content.
Meta’s Drug Sales Fight
As the news of the Federal probe was made public, Meta’s president of global affairs took to social media on Friday to announce a new partnership to help fight the sale of synthetic drugs.
On his X, Nick Clegg posted, “The opioid epidemic is a major public health issue that requires action from all parts of US society. That’s why Meta has joined the Alliance to Prevent Drug Harms alongside the State Department, UNODC and Snapchat to help disrupt the sale of synthetic drugs online and educate users about the risks.”
Investigations are still ongoing and may not amount to any charges. It is worth noting that sale and advertisement of drugs is meant to be highly regulated on online platforms. Google for example has limited the advertisement of prescription drugs via its Ad platform to only 24 countries globally. In Africa, Kenya is the only authorized nation.
