Main content

Glasgow’s social media drug market exposed in new ±«Óãtv documentary

21 July 2017

±«Óãtv Three programme found dealers using social media apps to sell drugs with a few simple taps of a screen.

Stacey met teenagers in Glasgow who buy drugs through social media

In the show, Stacey met Corey, from Glasgow, who said he’s been buying ecstasy since he was 12.

“It’s always been online for me,” he claimed, “It’s mainly through Snapchat and Instagram. You can get them in seconds straight to your door.”

“I think the draw to Snapchat is the fact that the messages aren’t permanent,” Corey observed. “You can speak to a larger amount of people and you can show it to people who are thinking about taking drugs.”

‘Digital’ dealers

Using fake profiles on Instagram, Snapchat and the new ‘Tinder for Teens’ app Yellow, Stacey revealed how easy it is for children and young teens to get their hands on Class A drugs via seemingly unmoderated and unprotected social media platforms.

She was able to use emoji to ask for drugs and then arranged to meet and confront the ‘digital’ dealers.

Stacey visited a drug-dealer’s safe house in Glasgow

Gang leaders in Glasgow

Stacey then gained access to the gang leaders of one of Britain’s largest drug outfits, who are based around Glasgow.

The gang leaders claimed they rely upon these social media savvy youngsters to push their illegal business through the popular teen apps.

They revealed to Stacey that approximately two-thirds of their trade now comes through social media transactions and the fast paced communication style of these platforms means they can sell up to £22,000 worth of cocaine in only a couple of hours.

“That’ll go to smaller people,” one of the gang told Stacey, pointing at medium-sized packages of drugs. “They’ll bust it down into wee’er bits and it’ll get passed through the system, like through Instagram.”

The gang reckoned that social media is the future of drug-dealing.

“Take a photo and a video of the gear, whatever and then... straightforward, nae bother.”

Response from the apps

Currently, the apps rely upon users reporting anything that looks illegal. The Instagram global review team said it checks reports 24/7 and, as soon as they are made aware of violating content, they work quickly to remove it.

Showing drugs that are claimed to be for sale on social media apps

Service users are also encouraged to report any illegal activity to Yellow communications team.

Snapchat says in a statement: “We encourage all Snapchatters to report anything to us that doesn’t belong on Snapchat, including by using our new in-app reporting tools.”

In 2013, Instagram blocked certain drug advert tags.

More about this story

  • Stacey goes undercover on Instagram, Snapchat and new social app Yellow to meet the new generation of drug dealers responsible for the biggest ever change to the UK drug trade.

Latest features from ±«Óãtv Scotland