The US House GOP targets counterfeit pills containing the deadly fentanyl being sold on social media

WASHINGTON — On a morning in June 2020, Amy Neville walked into her son’s bedroom to wake him up for an orthodontist appointment.

Fourteen-year-old Alex didn’t wake up.

He died of fentanyl poisoning after taking a fake pill he bought from someone he met on Snapchat, Neville told GOP lawmakers on Wednesday during a roundtable discussion about the role “Big Tech” particularly in the United States with the astounding number of fentanyl overdose deaths involving minors.

“Through this app, Alex has been able to overcome the natural limitations that keep most kids from the hardest drugs,” the San Diego mom testified. “Natural boundaries include a supportive family, a good school, a strong community, and other safeguards we knew offered… However, social media goes beyond those natural boundaries.”

During the three-hour discussion, Republicans on the US House of Representatives’ Energy and Trade Committee targeted several fronts, including legal immunity afforded to tech companies and the flows of synthetic opioids, such as counterfeit pills containing illegal fentanyl, entering the Southwest border. The event was organized by the Republican majority and was not a formal congressional hearing.

Drug overdoses exceed 100,000

Drug overdose deaths hit a grim milestone in November 2021 more than 100,000 deaths yearly. The pace has continued, with synthetic opioids the leading cause of overdose deaths, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lawmakers and invitees, including Neville, slammed tech companies that single out Snapchat for allowing illegal drug transactions involving minors through social media platforms and online marketplaces.

“Big tech has a lot of problems, but the deadly fentanyl sales aren’t a general big tech problem, it’s a Snap-specific problem. Snap’s product is specifically designed to attract both children and adult illegal activity,” said Carrie Goldberg of Brooklyn-based law firm CA Goldberg PLLC.

The company filed lawsuits in October against Snap Inc. on behalf of nine families whose children suffered fentanyl poisoning after accessing it through Snapchat, eight of whom died, including Alex Neville.

“…It’s the only app aimed at kids where parents can’t see the content, but Snap still wants parents to be responsible for what their kids do on it,” she continued.

Goldberg highlighted Snapchat’s disappearing messaging and geolocation capabilities as facets of the app that allow drug dealers to target minors and evade law enforcement.

Not true, said a Snap representative.

The company says it has made “significant operational improvements” to detect and remove drug dealers from the platform, and has added new layers of protection for users aged 13 to 17, including a new parenting tool called Family Center, which allows Parents can see their Snapchat content for teens.

“We are committed to doing our part to address the national fentanyl poisoning crisis, which includes using state-of-the-art technology to help us proactively find and shut down drug dealer accounts,” a Snap spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday .

“We’re blocking search results for drug-related terms and directing Snapchatter to expert resources on the dangers of fentanyl. We continue to expand our support for law enforcement investigations and help bring traders to justice, and we work closely with experts to share patterns of trader activity across platforms to identify and stop illegal behavior faster. We will continue to do everything we can to fight this epidemic, including by working with other technology companies, public health officials, law enforcement, families and non-profit organizations,” the statement continued.

Continued appeals to Congress

Goldberg previously testified before the committee when Democrats were in power in December 2021 for a hearing to “hold big tech accountable” by amending Section 230.

Section 230, part of the US Communications Act since the mid-1990s, generally protects social media platforms from legal liability for what third parties post on their websites.

Republicans and Democrats alike have pushed to change the law, with little success.

Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both spoken out against the law.

Dozens of legislative proposals to amend Section 230 fizzled during the last two sessions of Congress, including legislation spearheaded by then-longtime Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman Mike Doyle, who chaired the Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

Republicans have widely criticized major social media platforms for what they see as unfair moderation of content, including banning former President Donald Trump’s profiles. Snapchat banned Trump in January 2021.

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, announced on Wednesday that it will reactivate the former president’s Facebook and Instagram profiles in the coming weeks after a two-year ban.

Legislation on the classification of medicines

With little consensus on how to regulate content moderation by social media companies, GOP leaders on the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigative Subcommittee on Tuesday reinstated the HALT fentanyl law, which calls for a stricter classification of illegal synthetics Fentanyl-related substances under the Controlled Substances Act.

Illicit fentanyl entering the US drug supply is manufactured on a large scale in Mexico using precursor chemicals from Asia. The synthetic opioid is significantly more potent than heroin.

A Government Accountability Office as of February 2022 report on drug and human trafficking highlighted the use of social media and e-commerce platforms by drug traffickers.

According to an analysis by the Drug Enforcement Agency last year, six out of 10 counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl contain a lethal dose of the synthetic opioid.

Officer confiscated 14,700 pounds of illegal fentanyl in 2022, with the vast majority entering the US through land border crossings, according to US Customs and Border Patrol.

Wednesday’s roundtable, chaired by Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, also included Social Media Victims Law Center Attorney Laura Marquez-Garrett and Spokane County, Washington Sheriff John Nowels.