US prosecutors track down drug dealers on Facebook and Instagram
The Wall Street Journal in her March article she revealed that US federal prosecutors They lead investigation into the Meta case at an angle facilitating the sale of illegal substances. House officials cited recent reports from the WSJ and the nonprofit Tech Transparency Project that revealed Facebook and Instagram were flooded with ads directing users to yet more sites where they could buy prescription drugs, cocaine, and other substances.
Representatives drew attention to the exceptional sluggishness of Meta, which ignored the problem and did not completely remove illegal content. WSJ in another article, this time from July 31, 2024, reported that Finish “runs ads on Facebook and Instagram that direct users to online marketplaces for illegal drugs,” the outraged congressmen wrote in a letter. This despite the company facing a U.S. federal prosecutor’s office investigation “for facilitating sales illegal drugs,” they added.
Money, Ads and the Dark Web
The letter also stated that Advertisements were “approved and monetized by Meta” and that they were not hidden in dark web or on private social media pages. Media outlets and researchers could easily find ads that contained “blatant references to illegal drugs,” while Meta’s internal processes apparently failed to detect them.
Personal data and advertising personalization
“We’ve heard from Meta time and time again that users come to your platforms because they like the personalization and experiences you provide, and you use confidential personal dataTo personalize content and advertising” the lawmakers wrote. “We in Congress have worked repeatedly to establish privacy and data security protections for Americans, but each time we have been met with resistance and opposition from Meta, with claims that we would drastically disrupt the very personalization you provide.”
Congressmen are waiting for Zuckerberg’s response
The letter was signed by 19 members of Congress, who sent Zuckerberg a list of 15 questions. Their goal is to learn details about how Facebook, the company that owns Meta, is handling the problem. They asked Zuckerberg to respond by September 6.
Meta’s response to the media
Meta confirmed to CNBC that it had received the letter and said it plans to send a response. It also sent a statement that matches the one it provided to JSW in March 2024:
“Drug dealers are criminals who operate across platforms and communities, and we are working with law enforcement to help combat this activity. Our systems are designed to proactively detect and enforce violative content, and we have rejected hundreds of thousands of ads that violate our drug policies. We continue to invest resources and further improve enforcement of this type of content. Our hearts go out to those suffering the tragic consequences of this epidemic—it requires all of us working together to stop it.”
