Lankford Calls on Facebook to Stop the Flow of Fentanyl

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) and Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), along with their colleagues, sent a letter demanding Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg put an end to the public sale of fentanyl precursor chemicals on Facebook and Instagram. Currently, social media users can find numerous postsadvertising these chemicals with tag lines like “home delivery service” and “100 percent” custom clearance rate with just a click of a button. In the letter, the lawmakers also pointed out that China remains the principal source of US fentanyl and its precursors.

The lawmakers wrote, “We write to express grave concerns about the public sale of fentanyl precursor chemicals on Facebook and Instagram, both of which are owned by your company Meta. Fentanyl overdoses claim the lives of roughly 70,000 Americans each year. It is incumbent upon all of us to do more to stamp out this scourge on our society. That is why it is so disappointing to see one of the biggest tech companies in the world permitting—willfully or tacitly—the sale of these dangerous chemicals on your platforms.”

They continued, “Social media companies have a responsibility to help prevent dangerous chemicals from getting into the hands of bad actors and Americans of all ages. As the Department of Justice notes, ‘[d]ismantling illicit online drug marketplaces and holding responsible corporations – including responsible executives – who enable these illicit drug marketplaces, is critical to preventing overdoses and stemming the flow of dangerous drugs into our communities.’”

Lankford introduced the Combating Cartels on Social Media Act earlier this year to put an end to illegal activity by transnational criminal organizations online.

View the full letter here or below. 

Dear Mr. Zuckerberg,

We write to express grave concerns about the public sale of fentanyl precursor chemicals on Facebook and Instagram, both of which are owned by your company Meta. Fentanyl overdoses claim the lives of roughly 70,000 Americans each year. It is incumbent upon all of us to do more to stamp out this scourge on our society. That is why it is so disappointing to see one of the biggest tech companies in the world permitting—willfully or tacitly—the sale of these dangerous chemicals on your platforms. 

The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS)—a division of the American Chemical Society—assigns unique CAS registry numbers to every chemical substance described in scientific literature, including fentanyl precursors. If a Facebook user searches CAS registry numbers assigned to fentanyl precursors, they can find numerous public posts by users, including those associated with Chinese companies selling these chemicals. According to a 2022 report by the Brookings Institution, China “remains the principal (if indirect) source of US fentanyl” and its precursors.

A cursory search uncovered multiple Facebook posts advertising the sale of a fentanyl precursor with the CAS registry number 79099-07-3. This substance was enforced as a List I chemical under the Controlled Substance Act by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on April 12, 2023.6 All List I chemicals are designated because they are used in the illicit manufacturing of controlled substances, including fentanyl.

The widespread sale of 79099-07-3 on Facebook is not a fluke. We also discovered numerous Facebook posts advertising the sale of three other fentanyl precursors that the DEA has already enforced or is in the process of enforcing as a List I chemical. Once again, all a user needs to do to find these posts is to search the CAS registry number of the illicit substance.

This problem is not limited to Facebook. Instagram users can also find public posts advertising the same precursors controlled by the DEA.

The dealers responsible for these sales enthusiastically and openly exploit your platform to conduct illegal activity. One Facebook user touted that their products are “widely exported to the United States, the Middle East, Russia, Canada, Australia, Europe, and other countries.” Another seller “guarantee[d] 100 percent of your packages pass through customs.” Still others even promoted their customer service, noting they “offer home deliver[y] service.”

Each of these posts clearly violates your community standards. The Facebook community standards explicitly prohibit “[c]ontent that: attempts to buy, sell, trade, coordinate the trade of, donate, gift, or asks for non-medical drugs,” a term which your community standards define as “drugs or substances that are not being used for an intended medical purpose or are used to achieve a high – this includes precursor chemicals or substances that are used for the production of these drugs.” The Instagram community guidelines contain similar language that prohibit “content that attempts to trade, coordinate the trade of, donate, gift, or ask for non-medical drugs.”

Social media companies have a responsibility to help prevent dangerous chemicals from getting into the hands of bad actors and Americans of all ages. As the Department of Justice notes, “[d]ismantling illicit online drug marketplaces and holding responsible corporations – including responsible executives – who enable these illicit drug marketplaces, is critical to preventing overdoses and stemming the flow of dangerous drugs into our communities.”

We could not agree more with the Justice Department.

Therefore, we urge you to immediately remove these posts and suspend the accounts of individuals involved in this activity. Furthermore, we request an in-depth response to the following questions in writing no later than Friday, November 17, 2023. The explanation should, at a minimum, answer the following questions:

1. Does Meta, Facebook, or Instagram maintain a list of CAS numbers for illicit substances that it monitors in posts and comments on its platforms?

i. If so, does Meta, Facebook, or Instagram automatically delete posts containing these CAS numbers?

ii. Does Meta, Facebook, or Instagram maintain a similar list of names for illicit substances as set by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry?

2. Will Meta, Facebook, or Instagram adopt any plans to prevent the recurrence of these posts in the future?

i. If so, please provide a detailed explanation of your plan.

3. Were any posts advertising the sale of fentanyl precursors boosted through Facebook’s or Instagram’s algorithm?

i. If so, what steps is Meta, Facebook, or Instagram taking to adjust its algorithm to avoid such posts being boosted in the future?

4. Does Meta, Facebook, or Instagram have appropriate channels to report the users responsible for these posts to federal law enforcement authorities, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, and Customs and Border Protection.

i. If so, in how many instances has Meta, Facebook, or Instagram responded to federal law enforcement warrants related to the sale of fentanyl precursors on its platforms since January 1, 2023? 

5. Many of the users responsible for these posts are linked to Chinese companies.

i. Does Meta, Facebook, or Instagram have any data on the breakdown of the country of origin for the users responsible for posts advertising the sale of fentanyl precursors?

ii. If not, please provide a country-of-origin breakdown of users on Meta platforms who advertised the sale of precursors with the CAS numbers 79099-07-3, 125541- 22-2, 40064-34-4, and 99918-43-1 since January 1, 2023. 

6. Please explain whether Meta, Facebook, or Instagram collaborates with X, Alphabet, or other social media companies to investigate the sale of fentanyl precursors on their platforms.

7. Does Meta, Facebook, or Instagram track data on the engagement metrics for posts advertising the sale of fentanyl precursors?

i. If so, please provide the mean, mode, median, and range of the number of likes received on posts by users who advertised the sale of precursors with the CAS numbers 79099-07-3, 125541-22-2, 40064-34-4, and 99918-43-1 since January 1, 2023.

We look forward to hearing from you,

Sincerely,

###