Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is under fire for running ads promoting the distribution of various illegal drugs, according to an investigative report by The Wall Street Journal.
The ads, promoting the sale of banned recreational drugs such as cocaine and opioids, continue to be published across Meta’s leading social networking platforms, the report reveals.
The WSJ has found that Meta continues to profit off ads marketing illegal substances. The company has run “hundreds” of ads veering users towards marketplaces selling banned substances.
The revelation comes as Meta is already being investigated for the same by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the leading consumer protection watchdog in the United States (US).
The WSJ reported in March that US prosecutors were probing the tech conglomerate for its role in facilitating the sale of illegal drugs. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been part of the FTC’s ongoing investigation.
At the time, a Meta spokesperson had told the publication that the distribution of illicit drugs was against the company’s policies and Meta had been working to take down the violative ads from its social media platforms.
However, the WSJ’s review shows that Meta has done little to combat the distribution of drugs through its platforms, as some of the ads were found published as recently as July 2024.
According to Meta’s Drugs and Pharmaceuticals policy, the ads on its platforms cannot “solicit, buy, sell, trade, donate or gift (such as freebies) or illicit, recreational, or other potentially unsafe drugs, products or supplements”.
The ads are not allowed to “encourage the consumption of illicit, recreational, or other potentially unsafe drugs, products or supplements”. The marketing of “drug-related paraphernalia” is prohibited, too.
In March this year, Meta became the subject of intense scrutiny after a lawsuit was filed against the company’s possible failures to prevent human trafficking on its platforms. The suit raised allegations that Meta had been long aware of human trafficking and child exploitation on Facebook and Instagram, but took no effective measures to address the problem.
