House MPs press Meta for advertising illegal drugs

A bipartisan coalition of 19 House members is pressing Meta – the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp – to answer questions about the continued proliferation of illegal drug advertisements on the social media conglomerate's platforms.

In a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, representatives expressed concern about reports that illegal substances were still being offered for sale on the company's websites, despite previous investigations suggesting that Meta facilitates the illegal sale of drugs.

The letter was led by Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Lori Trahan (D-Mass.).

The lawmakers said their letter was prompted by a July 31 Wall Street Journal article that found Meta generates revenue from “advertising on Facebook and Instagram that directs users to online marketplaces for illegal drugs.” That article came after an earlier report by the magazine in March said federal prosecutors were investigating how the company profited from advertising for illegal drugs.

“This is not the first time your organization has been caught facilitating drug sales on your platforms,” ​​the lawmakers wrote, citing previous reports from the Tech Transparency Project in 2021, 2022 and 2024 that found social media users could purchase illegal substances with relative ease on Meta's various sites.

“What makes this case particularly egregious is that it did not involve user-generated content on the dark web or private social media pages, but rather ads approved and monetized by Meta,” the lawmakers added, noting that “many of these ads contained obvious references to illegal drugs in their titles, descriptions, photos, and advertiser account names.”

The letter's signatories also expressed particular concern about young consumers' access to these illicit drug ads, especially in the context of the country's ongoing fentanyl crisis. Although Meta's community standards specifically prohibit the sale of drugs and pharmaceuticals, the lawmakers said they “continue to be concerned that Meta is not up to the task and this dereliction of duty must be addressed.”

MEPs urged Meta to answer a series of questions by 6 September about its moderation and mitigation efforts regarding illegal drug advertising, including the number of indications of violations it has detected on its platforms and the amount of revenue the company has generated from such advertising.

A spokesman for Meta confirmed to Nextgov/FCW that the company had received the letter and referred to a statement it had previously provided to the Wall Street Journal for its July article.

“Our systems are designed to proactively detect and combat illegal content, and we reject hundreds of thousands of reports for violating our drug policies,” said Meta spokeswoman Tracy Clayton. “We continue to invest resources and improve our enforcement of this type of content.”

The company also pointed to a July blog post describing its partnerships with law enforcement and nonprofits to combat drug trafficking online, as well as some of the tools it uses to detect and remove drug-related content from its platforms.