Study: Drug Dealers Slinging Steroids on Social Media

Drug dealers are using social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube to sell illicit appearance and performance enhancing drugs (APEDs).

  • The Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) purchased some of the drugs being promoted on these sites and found some drugs contained potentially harmful steroids or were altogether fake.

  • The social media sites’ policies state it is illegal to sell drugs on their respective platforms.

Drug dealers are turning to social media websites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter to sell steroids, which can only legally be purchased with a prescription.

Internet safety group Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA) and cyber-intelligence firm GiPEC researchers found more than 100 examples of dealers selling or marketing appearance and performance enhancing drugs (APEDs) on social media websites between February and July, The Washington Post reported.

DCA and GiPEC described their findings released Monday as “startling.”

Exclusive: Dealers are peddling steroids on social networks like Facebook and YouTube, raising questions about how well companies are policing their sites https://t.co/XZOAIyonf0

— Cat Zakrzewski (@Cat_Zakrzewski) September 16, 2019

“The scheme uncovered by DCA during a six-month investigation … is simple: drug dealers advertise their ‘product’ online, and digital platforms turn a blind eye to illegal drug sales and promotions on their sites,” the report reads.

Read the original article.

source: yahoo.com