Mark Zuckerberg, chief government officer of Meta Platforms Inc., throughout an interview on “The Circuit with Emily Chang” at Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California, US, on Thursday, July 18, 2024.
Jason Henry | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
A bipartisan group of lawmakers despatched Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg a letter on Thursday expressing concern that the corporate is failing to forestall illicit drug commercials from operating on its platform.
The Home members cited current stories from The Wall Avenue Journal and nonprofit Tech Transparency Undertaking, which uncovered a flood of adverts on Fb and Instagram that pointed customers to third-party providers the place they might buy prescription capsules, cocaine and different leisure medication.
“On March 16, 2024, the Wall Avenue Journal reported that U.S. federal prosecutors have been investigating Meta for facilitating the sale of illicit medication,” the lawmakers wrote. “As an alternative of shortly addressing the problem and absolutely eradicating the illicit content material, on July 31, 2024, the Wall Avenue Journal once more reported that Meta was ‘”operating adverts on Fb and Instagram that steer customers to on-line marketplaces for unlawful medication.'”
Most troubling, they wrote, is that Meta continues to run adverts regardless of the corporate going through an investigation by U.S. federal prosecutors “for facilitating the sale of illicit medication.”
The letter’s 19 authors embrace Reps. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) and Lori Trahan (D-Mass.). They famous that the illicit drug adverts had been “accepted and monetized by Meta” and that they weren’t hidden on the darkish internet or personal social media pages. Media shops and researchers might simply discover the adverts, which contained “contained blatant references to unlawful medication,” whereas Meta’s inside processes apparently missed them.
“Time and time once more we now have heard from Meta that customers come to your platforms as a result of they just like the personalization and experiences you present, and you utilize delicate private data to direct such personalization via content material and commercials,” the lawmakers wrote. “We in Congress, on a number of events, have labored to ascertain knowledge privateness and safety protections for People however have, in every occasion, been met with friction and opposition from Meta with claims that we’d drastically disrupt this personalization you’re offering.”
They despatched Zuckerberg a listing of 15 questions meant to uncover extra particulars about how Meta is addressing the issue, and requested him to reply by Sept. 6.
Meta confirmed receipt of the letter and mentioned it plans to reply. The corporate shared with CNBC the identical assertion it gave the Journal for its preliminary story.
“Drug sellers are criminals who work throughout platforms and communities, which is why we work with legislation enforcement to assist fight this exercise. Our programs are designed to proactively detect and implement in opposition to violating content material, and we reject a whole bunch of hundreds of adverts for violating our drug insurance policies. We proceed to speculate sources and additional enhance our enforcement on this sort of content material. Our hearts exit to these affected by the tragic penalties of this epidemic – it requires all of us to work collectively to cease it.”
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