Copenhagen: Snapchat drug dealers have been identified as openly operating on the platform despite the company’s claim of proactive monitoring.
Research carried out by Digitalt Ansvar, a Danish organisation promoting responsible digital development, has shown that Snapchat has not effectively blocked usernames that clearly indicate drug activity.
The researchers created test profiles of 13-year-olds and found a large number of accounts using usernames such as ‘coke’, ‘weed’ and ‘molly’ to advertise drugs including cocaine, opioids and MDMA. According to the study, 40 such accounts were reported to Snapchat, but the company initially removed only 10.
The remaining 30 reports were rejected, the researchers said. Snapchat later stated that it had disabled 75 percent of these accounts proactively and confirmed that all accounts flagged in the study have since been removed.
The investigation further highlighted issues with Snapchat’s recommendation system. Within hours of creating the test accounts, researchers found that the system promoted up to 70 suspected drug-dealing profiles, simply because one friend connection was linked to such accounts. Digitalt Ansvar said that this practice exposed children to harmful content without any search effort.
Ask Hesby Holm, CEO of Digitalt Ansvar, said that the failure to moderate these obvious usernames meant children had very easy access to drug sellers. Holm added that Snapchat could easily filter such terms, but the issue reflected a lack of will rather than a lack of technology.
Snapchat, which reported a 90 percent reach among 13- to 24-year-olds in the Nordics in 2023, has denied failing to act. A spokesperson said that the company had invested significant resources to combat drug sales and deployed proactive detection to disable offending accounts.
The company added that it has worked with European law enforcement to track evolving keywords and emojis used by criminals, aiming to create a hostile environment for drug dealers.
Digitalt Ansvar has accused Snapchat of breaching EU digital services rules on child protection and has urged regulators to intervene. The findings raise concerns about whether Snapchat has provided a safe space for younger users and whether its systems genuinely protect children from drug-related risks.
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