[ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
Nineteen members of Congress <\/a> Mark Zuckerberg to explain why Meta has allowed ads for cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs to be shown on Facebook and Instagram. The letter comes after the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) uncovered hundreds of such ads on the company\u2019s platform.<\/p>\n The letter points to the TTP\u2019s report <\/a>, which used Meta\u2019s ad library to find 450 Instagram and Facebook ads \u201cselling an array of pharmaceutical and other drugs.\u201d Many of those ads included \u201cphotos of prescription drug bottles, piles of pills and powders, or bricks of cocaine,\u201d and directed viewers to outside apps like Telegram. Since then, the TTP has been posting additional examples of such ads on X, including one it <\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMeta appears to have continued to shirk its social responsibility and defy its own community guidelines,\u201d the lawmakers write in <\/a>, which is addressed directly to Zuckerberg. \u201cWhat 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. Many of these ads contained blatant references to illegal drugs in their titles, descriptions, photos, and advertiser account names, which were easily found by the researchers and journalists at the Wall Street Journal and Tech Transparency Project using Meta\u2019s Ad Library. However, they appear to have passed undetected or been ignored by Meta\u2019s own internal processes.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter requests details about Meta\u2019s policies for enforcing rules against drug-related ads, as well as information about how many times the reported ads were viewed and interacted with. It gives Meta a deadline of September 6 to reply. A spokesperson for Meta said the company plans to respond to the letter and directed Engadget to a prior statement, <\/a> by The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, in which the company said it rejects \u201chundreds of thousands of ads for violating our drug policies.\u201d<\/p>\n This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n