--- title: "Congress Furious With Mark Zuckerberg for Making Money From Illegal Drug Ads" description: "Mark Zuckerberg is under major fire from Congress after a recent report found that Meta has been profiting from ads for illegal drugs." date: "2024-08-16" modified: "2024-08-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/congress-mark-zuckerberg-letter-drugs" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "drugs" - "mark zuckerberg" - "Meta" - "the digest" --- # Congress Furious With Mark Zuckerberg for Making Money From Illegal Drug Ads ![Mark Zuckerberg is under major fire from Congress after a recent report found that Meta has been profiting from ads for illegal drugs.]() *\Image: Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty / Futurism\* ## Drug Runner Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is under major fire from Congress after a [recent report]() found that the company had been profiting from ads for illegal drugs. In a [letter to Meta](), a bipartisan group of House members cited a recent report from the [*Wall Street Journal*](), which found that Meta's public marketplaces were inundated with ads for illegal drugs including cocaine and DMT. At the beginning of this year, [Zuckerberg put on a tearful apologetic performance]() in front of Congress and families whose kids had been affected or even died because of harmful content found on Meta's social networks. Despite insistence that the company would do something about it, however, it appears that as of last month, the Meta Ad Library, which houses advertisements for Instagram and Facebook, was still profiting from the sale of drugs. In the most recent cache of ads, dealers circumvented algorithmic censors by spelling out whichever substance they were selling in the photograph associated with the ad. In one such instance discovered by the [Tech Transparency Project]() earlier this summer, the letters "DMT," a popular psychedelic drug, are seen spelled out in what appears to be a powdered version of the substance itself. These obvious exploitations of loopholes and unenforced oversights are bad enough — but as members of Congress have repeatedly noted, including in this most recent letter, the [results have been severe]() for young people who died or became addicted to drugs after allegedly accessing them on Meta's social networks. ## Self-Rule Earlier this year, the [*Wall Street Journal* revealed]() that US prosecutors were investigating the company over the claims that beyond being illegal and unethical, the drug ads also go against the [company's own policies](). "What is particularly egregious about this instance is that this was not user-generated content on the dark web or on private social media pages," the latest bipartisan letter reads, "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," it continued, "which were easily found... \[and\] appear to have passed undetected or been ignored by Meta’s own internal processes." A Meta spokesperson [told *Engadget*]() that the company plans to respond to the House members' letter soon — but in the meantime, those ads are still, as Tech Transparency Project noted, just a few clicks away. **More on Meta:** [*Man Puzzled When Meta's AI Keeps Giving Out His Phone Number to Strangers*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()