Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Zuckerberg queried over illicit drug ads

Zuckerberg queried over illicit drug ads

SAN FRANCISCO – Members of Congress called on Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg to give them details regarding adverts for opioids 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 community guidelines. What is particularly egregious about this instance is that this was not user-generated content on the dark web or private social media pages, but rather they were advertisements approved and monetised by Meta,” the letter read.

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 6 September.

Questions included how illicit drug ads Meta may have 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. 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,” a Meta spokesperson said in response to an AFP enquiry.

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