Social media giant Meta under investigation for alleged drug sales on its platforms: WSJ

Tech giant Meta and its various social media subsidiaries are under investigation regarding their use as a platform for drug sales.

Meta — the tech company that owns Facebook and Instagram — is being investigated by federal authorities who are looking into whether the tech giant is willfully facilitating or profiting off drug sales on its platforms, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The outlet reports federal authorities in Virginia have already pressed Meta for company records regarding “violative drug content on Meta’s platforms and/or the illicit sale of drugs via Meta’s platforms.”

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Investigators are reportedly being assisted by officials from the Food and Drug Administration.

“The sale of illicit drugs is against our policies and we work to find and remove this content from our services,” Meta told Fox Business on Saturday. Meta proactively cooperates with law enforcement authorities to help combat the sale and distribution of illicit drugs.”

Many online social platforms have become a hotbed of illegal activity, including the domestic and international sale of illicit substances.

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“Fighting drug trafficking online is bigger than any single platform. That’s why we actively collaborate with other technology companies to share information and prevent bad actors from doing harm online,” Meta says in the “Transparency Center” section of their website. 

The company states, “For example, we’re working with Snap to identify patterns and signs of illicit drug-related content and activity. Through this program, we’ve identified novel ways to detect illicit drug content at-scale on our platform, and routinely share these signals back with Snap so we can independently evaluate and remove violating drug content across platforms.”

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently announced a collaborative campaign between the State Department and social media companies (including Meta) to combat online drug trafficking at the 67th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

“The United States and the UNODC recently launched a new collaborative effort with Meta, Snap, and others to disrupt synthetic drug activity online and instead to have these platforms use their influence to educate users about the risks,” said Blinken.

The partnership was also touted on social media by Meta President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg on Friday.

Fox Business has reached out to the Food and Drug Administration for comment.