House lawmakers press Meta over illicit drug ads

A bipartisan coalition of 19 House lawmakers is pressing Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp — to answer questions about the continuing prevalence of advertisements for illicit drugs on the social media conglomerate’s platforms. 

In a letter addressed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, the representatives expressed concern about reports of illegal substances still being advertised for sale on the company’s sites, despite previous investigations flagging Meta’s facilitation of unlawful drug sales.

The missive 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 spurred on by a July 31 article in The Wall Street Journal that found Meta was collecting revenue from “ads on Facebook and Instagram that steer users to online marketplaces for illegal drugs.” That article came after a previous report published by the outlet in March said that federal prosecutors were investigating how the company was profiting from illicit drug ads.

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

“What is particularly egregious about this instance is that this was not user generated content on the dark web or on private social media pages, but rather they were advertisements approved and monetized by Meta,” the lawmakers added, noting that “many of these ads contained blatant references to illegal drugs in their titles, descriptions, photos and advertiser account names.”

The letter’s signatories also expressed particular concern about young users’ access to these illegal drug ads, especially in the context of the nation’s ongoing fentanyl crisis. Although Meta’s community standards specifically prohibit the sale of drugs and pharmaceuticals, the lawmakers said they are “continuously concerned that Meta is not up to the task and this dereliction of duty needs to be addressed.”

The lawmakers pressed Meta to answer a series of questions by Sept. 6 about its moderation and mitigation efforts when it comes to illicit drug ads, including the number of offending notices it has identified across its platforms and the amount of revenue the company has generated from these ads. 

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

“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,” Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton said. “We continue to invest resources and further improve our enforcement on this kind of content.”

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