Teens across the country are being poisoned by deadly pills bought on Snapchat.
These pills are marketed as Percocet or Oxycodone, but are in fact laced with fentanyl, which is 50-100 times more potent than morphine. Its chemicals are mainly sourced from China and then mass produced into pills by the Mexican Drug Cartels. It’s cheap, easy to make, highly addictive and just 2 milligrams is enough to kill.
DEA Chief Anne Milgram said, “Social media companies need to do more. They need to be proactive. If we know it’s happening, we know they know it’s happening.”
So why don’t social media firms do more? Under CDA 230, a law passed in 1996, tech firms aren’t liable for content posted by a user, even if they know it’s there. Therefore, Snapchat is not obligated to remove drug dealers from their platforms.
ACCO members Jaime Puerta and Amy Neville both lost their children after they purchased fake pharmaceuticals on Snapchat. In the case of Neville, it took almost a year for Snapchat to respond to law enforcement requests for information.
Puerta and Neville are bringing awareness to this issue by hosting their second protest against Snapchat at “Rally to Save Our Youth”. The event will be held at 12pm PT at Clover Park in Santa Monica and ends at Snap Headquarters.