Why doesn't Mark Zuckerberg control Facebook and Instagram ads?

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14كيلو بايت

A bipartisan group of 19 US lawmakers sent a letter to the CEO of Meta  Mark Zuckerberg, in which they expressed concern that many ads with illegal drugs appeared on Facebook and Instagram, and which the company does not fight in any way.

Members of Congress referred to recent reports from the Wall Street Journal and the nonprofit Tech Transparency Project, which revealed a lot of explicit drug advertising on Meta apps. The ads redirected users to third-party platforms selling prescription pills, cocaine, and other narcotic substances.

"At a hearing before the US Senate Justice Committee in January 2024, you personally apologized to the parents of children who died as a result of exploitation, harassment and drug use on the Internet. Despite this and your company's own community standards, Meta* throughout 2024 approved ads that clearly showed the sale of drugs," the letter says.

"Our systems are designed to proactively detect and take action against infringing content, and we reject hundreds of thousands of ads for violating our drug policy. We continue to invest resources and improve enforcement measures for this type of content," a Meta spokesperson replied, drawing The Post's attention to a statement made in the Journal two weeks ago.

Lawmakers said the drug ads were not buried on the dark web, but were approved and monetized by Meta on Instagram, Faceboo*, Messenger and WhatsApp. The letter says that some of the illegal ads were published on social media pages with understandable names, such as "Ecstasy Medicines."

According to lawmakers, while researchers were able to easily find many advertisements for illegal drugs, Meta somehow missed them. The letter contained a list of 15 questions related to the advertising of the drugs, and a request for Zuckerberg to respond by September 6. Meta* confirmed to The Post that it had received the letter and planned to respond. Lawmakers are concerned about the safety of children because so many young Americans use Meta platforms.

"In 2022, an average of 22 minors aged 14 to 18 died of drug overdoses every week in the United States. Fentanyl is often found in fake oxycodone, benzodiazepines and other prescription pills - all of which have been found on your platforms, including in advertising," the letter says.

Lawmakers noted that they tried to ensure data privacy and security protections for American users on Meta platforms, but "faced resistance" from Meta, which said such protections would violate its personalization features.

"If this personalization you provide promotes illicit drug advertising to vulnerable segments of the American population, then it is difficult for us to believe that you are not involved in the illicit drug trade," the letter says.

Meta has won an appeal filed by Children's Health Defense, which challenged its censorship of Facebook posts spreading misinformation about the efficacy and safety of vaccines. In its decision, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California, said the nonprofit failed to prove that Meta cooperated with federal officials or was forced to suppress opinions that went against "government theory" regarding vaccines.

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