These posts are not even blurred, age-gate or sequestered for normal users.
This means that even those who are not into drugs can come across these images selling the drugs.
VentureBeat goes on to give the example of ease of search for the drugs.
You are to just do a hashtag search try #xanax, for example.
Youll be greeted by a list of hashtags spanning more than 100,000 images just for this particular substance.
Many of these images are legitimate inasmuch as they just portray drug use.
But mixed within are posts with product for sale.
Some users even claim to deliver overnight.
It also says that the drugs sales are in no way incidental or isolated.
A typical drug search result throws up hundreds of results indicating how deeply this problem has penetrated Instagram.
The drug sellers are using innovative methods to reach out to their customers.
Often these accounts employ hashtags that dont relate to their business.
Sometimes its an appeal to target demographics.
Sometimes its a wide net cast to catch as many eyeballs as possible.
In a word, this is marketing.
VentureBeat reached out to Facebook pointing them to this illegal use of Instagram for drug sales.
However, Facebooks comment was reactive and stereotypical one.
A dedicated team reviews these reports and removes the content if it violates our guidelines.
Another question is how do the law enforcement authorities deal with this new problem.
Resource :VentureBeat
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source: www.techworm.net
