Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has been running hundreds of advertisements on Facebook and Instagram promoting a controversial substance known as Kambo, a drug derived from frog secretions linked to multiple deaths.
The tech giant has targeted British Instagram users with adverts marketing Kambo, which is typically promoted as part of so-called “healing” retreats held in the UK and abroad.
A British man died following a Kambo ceremony last week, believed to be the first such fatality recorded in the UK, according to a disclosure by The Telegraph.
The victim, Kristian Trend, a 40-year-old wellness coach, is believed to have collapsed after a Kambo ritual at a flat in Leicester.
His death has prompted calls from Members of Parliament for the sale of Kambo to be banned in Britain, where the frog toxin is currently neither a licensed medicine nor a controlled drug.
The adverts running on Meta’s platforms tout Kambo as offering benefits including help “navigating mental health challenges, addiction recovery, trauma healing,” with some targeting high-performers seeking to “reset” and detox.
More than 570 adverts promoting Kambo have been targeted at the UK, with around a dozen still running at the time of publication.
The drug, made from the dried secretions of the giant leaf frog, has its origins in Amazonian tribal medicine and has grown in popularity across Europe as a wellness treatment.
It is typically applied to small burns on the skin during ritualistic ceremonies and prompts extreme vomiting, or “purging,” which practitioners claim cleanses the body.
Kambo has been linked to multiple deaths around the world and is banned from sale in Brazil, Chile, and Australia, where officials have warned it poses a risk of “seizures and death” even in limited doses.
Other documented risks include rupturing the inside of the oesophagus from repeated vomiting, which constitutes a medical emergency.
Prof. Penelope Ward, from King’s College London, said: “Healers supplying this product seem to be ignorant of its potential harms and may be placing their customers at risk.”
Ward added: “It would seem to be appropriate for this product to be properly investigated with a view to considering whether its use should be banned.”
Alastair Hay, an emeritus professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds, says the chemicals in Kambo can be up to 40 times more potent than morphine.
Hay said that because the chemical is administered with varying concentrations, often taken while drinking large volumes of water, and used by those who may not be fully fit, “it doesn’t surprise me that there are fatalities.”
Meta’s advertising policies prohibit ads promoting illicit drugs “or other potentially unsafe drugs, products or supplements,” with enforcement decisions made at Meta’s discretion.
Dozens of adverts on Meta’s UK platforms also promote overseas retreats for Ayahuasca ceremonies, a drink that is illegal in the UK as it contains DMT, a class A drug with strong hallucinogenic properties.
The Advertising Standards Authority has stated that adverts appearing to condone illegal drug use are likely to be considered “irresponsible,” while the Online Safety Act classifies offers to supply illegal drugs as priority illegal content.
A Meta spokesman confirmed that selling banned drugs is illegal on its apps and that the company uses proactive detection technology alongside human content reviewers to remove policy-violating adverts, adding that Meta keeps its policies under review.
