Stop Fentanyl ads on Instagram, SnapChat, YouTube and TikTok

Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram face pressure to stop illegal drug sales as overdose deaths soar. – WaPo

How big is the crisis of illegal drugs being marketed on social media? Who dies? Who profits? How many drug overdoses are there? Which states have the most deaths? What can you do to help stop corporations profiting from Fentanyl ads?

Stop Fentanyl ads on social media

Share this StoryMap freely with this link or as a GIF

Corporate greed. Public deaths.

This StoryMap explains the scope of the problem, how ads for illegal drugs target teenagers on Instagram, SnapChat, YouTube and Tik Tok; and how Senator Warner’s Safe Tech Act proposes to curb the menace of corporate profiting from a public health crisis.

A map of the number of drug over does deaths was created with data from the Centers For Disease Control (CDC)
Graphs of the surge in Fentanyl deaths was added from National Institute on Drug Abuse and Drug Abuse Statistics
Actions to hold social media accountable from Digital Citizens Alliance and Coalition For A Safer Web
Links to a webinar organized by Ethnic Media Services with Sam Quinones author of The Least of Us about the epidemic
Salaries of the Facebook and Google CEOs from Yahoo Finance
Details on the Safe Tech Act and how curbs Section 230 to hold bad actors accountable for the harm they cause
How to call your Senator to demand they support the Safe Tech Act

Fentanyl overdose deaths surge

“More than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the United States last year, a surge of nearly 30% from the year before.. Illegal drug sales have been a scourge on Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and other social media apps. DEA Administrator Anne Milgram specifically called out Snapchat and TikTok, two apps that are popular with teenagers and young adults, for not doing more to combat sales.” – Washington Post

Facebook amplifies the drug dealers’ messages

“Searches on Instagram, owned by Facebook, for hashtags of the names of drugs — such as #oxy, #percocet, #painkillers, #painpills, #oxycontin, #adderall and #painrelief — revealed thousands of posts by a mash-up of people grappling with addiction, those bragging about their partygoing lifestyle and enticements from drug dealers. Particularly troubling was the fact that as researchers followed more drug dealers, Instagram’s algorithms didn’t stop it. Rather, the platform amplified the problem – pushing more drug sellers toward the researcher’s account. – Washington Post

Safe Tech Act

Senator Warner, a former technology entrepreneur and the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has stated that “Section 230 has provided a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card to the largest platform companies even as their sites are used by scam artists, harassers, and violent extremists to cause damage and injury.”

The core components of the SAFE TECH Act would fundamentally alter the language of Section 230 to no longer offer protection in situations where payments are involved, something previously protected. Also, the new bill would open internet companies to an increased level of civil liability in some cases. The bill would provide victims of the right to file lawsuits against those companies rather than absolutely blocking those kinds of suits. – Journal of High Technology Law

Take Away: Demand your Senator support the Safe Tech Act. It’s time to hold tech firms who put profits over deaths accountable.

Deepak
DemLabs

DISCLAIMER: ALTHOUGH THE DATA FOUND IN THIS BLOG AND INFOGRAPHIC HAS BEEN PRODUCED AND PROCESSED FROM SOURCES BELIEVED TO BE RELIABLE, NO WARRANTY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED CAN BE MADE REGARDING THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, LEGALITY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY SUCH INFORMATION. THIS DISCLAIMER APPLIES TO ANY USES OF THE INFORMATION WHETHER ISOLATED OR AGGREGATE USES THEREOF.

Reposted from Democracy Labs with Permission