The report finds that Instagram makes it easier for teens to find products online

Instagram makes it easy for 13-year-olds to find and buy drugs such as MDMA and Xanax, according to a recently published report from . The council recently conducted an investigation where it created several fake accounts to test the security that Instagram has to protect young people from potentially deadly drugs.

Although hashtags like #mdma are banned on the platform, TTP found that it was easy to place restrictions on a child-bound account. Using MDMA as an example, the organization found that it could use terms like “mdmamolly” to find people who sell the products. Instead, the app’s search algorithms made it easy to find hashtags, with its final form that directs searchers to the right side.

To make matters worse, once a person follows just one account of a drug dealer, the idea of ​​Instagram suggests that the user should follow the same profile. Even Instagram banning “buying or selling non-pharmaceutical or pharmaceutical drugs,” TTP found many drug dealers operating openly on the platform.

Separately, TTP claims that Instagram did nothing against the content of the platform. The commission said it had submitted 50 submissions to the company for review. Of them, Instagram said 36 (or 72 percent) had not violated Community Guidelines, although TTP claimed “clear indications” of drug trafficking. At the time of publication, the company had banned only one TTP account. However, when the agency went to see the profile, it remained on Instagram with all the violations.

“We are banning the sale of drugs on Instagram. We have removed 1.8 million items related to the sale of drugs only in the last phase, and due to our cognitive expertise, the amount of such items is approximately 0.05 percent of what is viewed, or 5 per 10,000 views,” Stephanie Otway, spokeswoman said. Meta, told Engadget. “We will continue to do well in the region in an effort to protect Instagram, especially for the young people in our community.”

The report comes a day later is supposed to testify to the Senate about how Instagram affects young users. The platform has undergone further scrutiny in recent weeks . According to Haugen, , learned from his internal Instagram research that it was harmful to many young people but the company ignored those warnings. The TTP results may reveal some of the questions the consumer protection committee asks Mosseri Wednesday.