President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has reached out to major tech firms, including Google (GOOG, Financial), Microsoft (MSFT, Financial), and Meta Platform (META, Financial), to solve the problem of online drug sales.
Representatives from Trump's transition team and former drug czar Jim Carroll invited staff from the three companies, along with Snap and TikTok, to what email emails sent by a mid-December meeting. According to the letter, the correspondence reportedly involves discussions of industry priorities and challenges in combating drug sales across digital platforms.
Fentanyl poses a considerable problem to American lives, Trump has said repeatedly. Mexico must take more decisive actions to stop the flow of drugs across the border to the U.S., and he vowed to press for tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada if the traffic and illegal migrant problems remain.
The move is part of broader scrutiny of tech companies in online drug sales. In March, prosecutors investigated Meta's treatment of drug-related activities on Facebook and Instagram. Earlier, eBay (NASDAQ: The drug-making devices were the subject of a $59 million settlement by EBAY over alleged failure to stop the sale of counterfeit devices.
Trump announced plans for a nationwide ad campaign in November warning of the dangers of fentanyl. Pushing the tech firms is part of efforts to confront the issues of managing and prodders illicit online activities.
