The new Twitter competitor Threads has launched this week, boasting staggering user sign ups. The social media app made by Meta has become extremely popular since the launch due to user’s abilities to sign up with their Instagram account. One thing has stuck out to users though, when someone searches for marijuana or psychedelics, the sight directs users to drug treatment help. When users search for alcohol or cigarettes, the site does not.
The social media site asks users if they want to “get help” finding resources to help drug treatment. This is only the case when searching for “marijuana”, “psilocybin”, and “ibogaine”. Searches for other drugs that are linked to serious addiction and death such as tobacco and alcohol have no warning whatsoever.
Within the text prompted to users it says, “This May Be Associated with the Sale of Drugs. The sale, purchase, or trade of illicit drugs can cause harm to yourself and others and is illegal in most countries. If you or someone you know struggle with substance abuse, you can get help through confidential treatment referrals, prevention, and recovery support.”
The app then gives users the ability to “get help” or see results. The help button redirects users to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Many other searches for drugs like MDMA, Vicodin, Percocet, Adderall, Meth, and DMT also give users the prompt.
Many users are calling this unfair due to the significant research done to show how dangerous alcohol and tobacco are compared to drugs like marijuana or psilocybin. Users are calling for Meta to change their approach to these drugs and include all substances in their “get help” section.
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