Drugs are rife on social media, say teenagers

Call for legislation to make sites such as Instagram report adverts as one in four youths see offers

MINISTERS have been urged to force Instagram and Snapchat to report drug dealers on their platforms to the police, after 25 per cent of young people in a survey said they had seen cannabis, cocaine or other drugs advertised while browsing social networking apps.

Dealers post pictures and videos of the drugs, encouraging users to contact them on encrypted messaging platforms and using emojis as a code to avoid detection, a report by the think tank Volteface has revealed.

A quarter of 16 to 24-year-olds have seen illegal drugs for sale on social media sites or apps, the report says, mostly on Instagram and Snapchat.

Some teenagers reported seeing heroin, ketamine and synthetic cannabinoids, known as “spice”, for sale.

In less than an hour, The Telegraph found more than 10 accounts selling cannabis, cocaine and Xanax on Instagram and Snapchat.

When this newspaper informed Instagram about the accounts, they were removed.

In an attempt to disguise their activities, drug dealers write that their wares are “not for sale”, while providing phone numbers and usernames for encrypted messaging apps, such as Wickr, for teenagers to contact them. Dealers use emojis as a code to advertise drugs without breaking social media rules. A horse represents ketamine, a nose or a snowflake represents cocaine, and a pig, rat or snake denotes another user who has reported an account to moderators or the police, the report said.

Once users make contact with the dealers, a meeting is arranged to hand over the drugs or they can be sent in the post.

Niko Vorobyov, a former drug dealer, now author, told The Telegraph: “Some of the guys I know who are still in the game use social media, mainly Instagram and Snapchat. If kids are living all their lives on social media, you might as well move into that territory.”

The Government’s Online Harms white paper, designed to protect young people on the internet, would require social media firms to inform a regulator about drug dealing on their platforms.

But today’s report raises concerns it does not go far enough, and points out that under the new rules, firms would not have to tell the police about dealing they discover.

An Instagram spokesman said the platform “does not allow sale or purchase of illegal drugs, and works with the police to keep drugs content off our platforms”.

It added: “We invest heavily in new technology to identify the code words and images someone may use when attempting to sell drugs. We encourage anyone who sees this illegal activity happening on our platforms to report it so we can remove it immediately.”

Snapchat did not respond to a quest for comment. re