Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during an interview on “Circle with Emily Chang” at Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S., Thursday, July 18, 2024.
Jason Henry | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Republican congressman harshly criticized Meta Thursday for what a lawmaker called an inadequate response to concerns about illegal drug ads on Facebook and Instagram.
Michigan Rep. Tim Wahlberg called Meta’s letter to bipartisan lawmakers Monday “unacceptable,” claiming the company did not respond to specific questions politicians sent to CEO Mark Zuckerberg in August.
The questions to Meta revolved around recent reports by The Wall Street Journal and the nonprofit Tech Transparency Project (TTP). Lawmakers intend to use a list of 15 questions to help determine the prevalence of illegal drug ads on Meta’s apps, the amount of views and interactions with the ads, the extent to which minors engage with them, and the actions Meta takes against the groups responsible.
“Meta’s response not only ignores most of the questions raised in our letter, but also refuses to acknowledge that these illegal drug ads are endorsed and monetized by Meta and allowed to run on their platforms,” Walberg said. “This is unacceptable. Meta must be held accountable for its negligence and the resulting impact on users, especially children and teenagers.”
Meta declined to comment.
Rachel Lieber, Meta’s vice president of global legal strategy, said in a letter to lawmakers that the company shares lawmakers’ concerns about the “public safety and health threat posed by the opioid epidemic.”
“We know this problem affects many Americans, often with tragic consequences, so the fight against online drug trafficking is bigger than any platform,” Lieber said in the letter, obtained by CNBC. “At Meta, we are committed to playing a critical role in the solution.”
Lieber explained in the letter that Meta’s policy “prohibits the purchase and sale of illegal drugs on our apps” and that the company has various measures and resources it uses “to detect and remove drug-related content that violates our policies.”
TTP director Katie Paul said in a statement that Meta “has repeatedly answered direct questions from members of Congress, the media and the public about the hundreds of illegal drug ads on her platform.”
“Meta tries to avoid blame and promote a ‘whole of society’ approach,” Paul said. Meta “earns revenue from evidence of paid reinforcement to drug trafficking sites that would not be accessible without Meta’s advertising platforms.”
Wahlberg’s comments came after Zuckerberg said during a live podcast recording in San Francisco that Meta should push back harder “when people make unsubstantiated claims about the influence of the tech industry or our company.”
“One of the things that I look back on and regret is that I think we accepted the attitude of others about some of the things that they claim we did wrong or were responsible for,” Zuckerberg said at the event on Tuesday.
Read Meta’s letter to lawmakers below:
