During Meta’s earnings call in August, CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined an ambitious future for the company’s advertising services, emphasizing how artificial intelligence (AI) will soon enhance both ad creation and personalization.
Zuckerberg projected that “in the coming years, AI will be able to generate creative for advertisers and also personalize it as people see it.”
However, as Meta aims to transform its advertising technology, the company is already under intense scrutiny regarding its use of AI.
On Thursday, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, spearheaded by Republican Representative Tim Walberg of Michigan and Democratic Representative Kathy Castor of Florida, sent a formal letter to Zuckerberg. The letter demands that the CEO address concerns about Meta’s advertising practices.
This scrutiny follows a March report by the Wall Street Journal, which disclosed that federal prosecutors are investigating Meta’s involvement in the illegal sale of drugs through its platforms.
The lawmakers’ letter criticized Meta for allegedly neglecting its social responsibilities and violating its own community guidelines. It underscored the need for Meta to improve its efforts to protect online users, particularly minors. “Protecting users online, especially children and teenagers, is one of our top priorities. We are continuously concerned that Meta is not up to the task and this dereliction of duty needs to be addressed,” the letter stated.
Earlier this year, Zuckerberg faced questioning from senators about safety measures for children using Meta’s social media platforms. During the hearing, he publicly apologized to families who felt that social media had negatively impacted their children.
In August, the Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit watchdog group, reported that Meta was still profiting from ads promoting illegal drugs, including cocaine and opioids—substances that the company prohibits in its advertising policy. The watchdog highlighted that many of these ads were blatant, featuring images of prescription drug bottles, drug powders, and bricks of cocaine, and encouraging transactions.
In response, a Meta spokesperson told Business Insider, “Our systems are designed to proactively detect and enforce against violating content, and we reject hundreds of thousands of ads for violating our drug policies. We continue to invest resources and further improve our enforcement on this kind of content. Our hearts go out to those suffering from the tragic consequences of this epidemic — it requires all of us to work together to stop it.”
Related topics:
What Exactly Does Microsoft Do?