The chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs warned on Monday that social media platforms are increasingly being exploited by illegal drug dealers and criminal groups to target young people despite existing policies banning the sale and promotion of illegal drugs online.
Las Piñas Lone District Rep. Mark Anthony Santos said the widespread use of social media and the ease of online communication have given drug dealers new avenues to reach potential customers, particularly young users.
‘Technically, all social media platforms prohibit the sale of drugs, but teens know how to find a drug dealer on social media. Drug enforcement units have found evidence that drug activity is rampant across major platforms, particularly Messenger and Viber in the Philippines,’ Santos said.
Citing studies, he said shabu, or methamphetamine, was among the illegal drugs most commonly purchased through social media in the Philippines, followed by marijuana, ecstasy and cocaine.
‘Criminals are adapting faster than we are. They are learning how to use the same platforms where our young people spend much of their time,’ Santos said.
The lawmaker also raised concerns over reports from cybersecurity experts that online games and social media platforms are being exploited by extremist groups to recruit vulnerable young people.
He cited reports involving an online group known as 764, which cybersecurity researchers have linked to the recruitment and exploitation of young people online, including a person reportedly involved in a shooting incident in Tacloban.
Santos said the threat therefore extends beyond illegal drugs, as young users may also become targets of criminal and extremist networks operating through digital platforms.
He also pointed to studies documenting the use of social media to facilitate illegal drug transactions, saying Instagram has emerged as a significant platform for online drug trafficking. Experienced users, he said, may be able to locate dealers through seemingly ordinary posts, accounts and interactions.
‘Social media has made it possible for drug dealers to operate in plain sight. They can use coded words, images, emojis and seemingly harmless posts to advertise illegal drugs while trying to evade the platforms’ detection systems,’ Santos said.
According to the lawmaker, dealers have also used emojis and other symbols as coded advertisements for illegal drugs in an attempt to evade automated content filters. He said such tactics highlight the limitations of relying solely on automated moderation to curb online drug trafficking.
Santos also cited research suggesting a possible link between problematic social media use and vulnerability to substance abuse.
Referring to a Michigan State University study, he said individuals susceptible to social media addiction may exhibit vulnerabilities associated with drug addiction, raising concerns that heavily engaged young users could become attractive targets for online drug dealers.
‘The danger is not simply that children may see illegal drugs online. The greater danger is that the platform can become the place where they are introduced to the drug dealer, persuaded to try drugs and eventually pulled into a criminal network,’ Santos said.
Santos called on social media companies to strengthen safeguards against the exploitation of their platforms by criminal organizations.
Among the measures he proposed are stronger age-verification systems to prevent children below 14 from creating or maintaining social media accounts, enhanced parental controls, and greater accountability for platforms in detecting and removing accounts linked to illegal drug activities, recruitment and exploitation.
‘We cannot allow criminals to turn the phones of our children into marketplaces for illegal drugs. Social media companies have the technology to identify suspicious behavior, and they must be required to use it more effectively,’ Santos said.
He urged Congress and relevant government agencies to strengthen laws and enforcement mechanisms against online drug trafficking while ensuring that measures to protect children are implemented without undermining legitimate online communication.
‘The drug trade has evolved. Our laws, enforcement strategies and digital safeguards must evolve with it. We cannot fight a 21st-century drug problem using yesterday’s tools,’ Santos said.