Last week, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., introduced a bill to “combat the sale of fentanyl and other illicit drugs on social media platforms.”
Scott brought out the “Stopping Online Confusion for Investigative Agencies and Law Enforcement by Maintaining Evidence Determined Interparty Arrangements (SOCIAL MEDIA) Act,” the latest in a series of bills he has championed to combat the fentanyl crisis.
“The SOCIAL MEDIA Act will allow for better law enforcement coordination in criminal cases with social media platforms by requiring 24/7 staffed-in-the-U.S.A. call centers for fielding information requests with clear guidelines for agencies to best expedite the process. Time is critical when catching these criminals. This bill will promote enhanced data collection, transparency in the data collected, and uniformity in data presented to better compare platform to platform on their efforts to combat illegal drug sales,” Scott’s office noted.
“Fentanyl and other deadly drugs are making their way to Floridians’ doorsteps, not only through the dark web and drug dealers on the streets, but now through social media apps that our kids have access to. I have heard too many heartbreaking stories from families across my state about how they lost their child to an overdose of a drug bought through social media. Today, we say enough is enough. It is time to stop the drug dealers and social media platforms that are complicit in the death of the hundreds of thousands of lives we have lost to overdose. I am proud to stand with law enforcement and families today and introduce my SOCIAL MEDIA Act to finally hold folks accountable and hopefully prevent the loss of another life. I thank the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Partnership for Safe Medicine, and the Major County Sheriffs of America for their support and hope my colleagues in the Senate stand up against this epidemic and do the same,” Scott said.
The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. So far, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. House and no co-sponsors in the Senate.
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