The Meta group and its platforms (Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp) are suspected of facilitating and profiting from illegal drug sales, prompting US federal prosecutors to open an investigation in 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
Based on documents and sources close to the case, the North American Economic Newspaper reported that the subpoenas and interrogations were carried out as part of a process before a grand jury made up of citizens involved in the investigation.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which says it has reviewed the subpoenas issued in 2023, they must determine whether Meta’s platforms “facilitate and profit from the illegal sale of drugs” and should therefore be subject to legal action. proceedings.
Federal prosecutors in Virginia “have sought records relating to the possession of illegal drugs on the Meta Platforms and/or the illegal sale of drugs through the Meta Platforms.”
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is supporting this federal investigation.
The FDA and Meta did not immediately respond to messages from AFP on Saturday. However, a Meta spokeswoman told the WSJ that “illegal sales of drugs are against” the group’s policies and that it is “working to identify and remove this type of content” from its services.
“Meta is actively cooperating with law enforcement agencies to help combat the illegal sale and distribution of drugs,” the same source said.
Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of international affairs, reported on Friday on X that the group had joined the Drug Abuse Prevention Alliance along with the US State Department and the UN Office on Drug Abuse, Drugs and Crime (UNDOC).
The goal is, in part, to “help prevent the sale of synthetic drugs over the Internet,” he explained, recalling that the opioid crisis is a “major public health problem” in the United States.
Between 1999 and 2022, more than 700,000 people in the United States died from overdoses related to opioids, both prescription and illicit, from 1999 to 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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