Craig, Klobuchar seek support for legislation to combat fentanyl trafficking on social media

Devin Norring was 19 when he accidentally overdosed on a pill he bought on Snapchat. He thought he was buying Percocet, but it turned out to be a pill containing a lethal amount of fentanyl.

Norring died in April 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to upend people’s lives. For Norring, that meant doctor appointments to treat migraines and dental issues were canceled. So he turned to social media.

“We never thought this could happen to our family,” Devin’s mother, Bridgette Norring, said at a news conference Tuesday at Hastings High School. She was flanked by U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, both Democrats.

“We’ve had countless conversations with our son on social media about his responsibility in this,” Norring said. “We’ve had conversations about drugs that are out there, but we didn’t know this drug existed.”

Craig introduced the bill with Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa in the U.S. House of Representatives. The “Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act” would require social media companies to alert federal law enforcement when illicit drug trafficking occurs on their platforms.

“Congress must step up and force these tech platforms to keep these drug dealers out of the hands of our youth,” Craig said.

The law provides for both criminal and civil penalties. A first violation would result in a fine of up to $190,000. The bill also provides for stiff civil penalties if a social media provider knowingly submits a report containing false or fraudulent information.

Republicans running against Craig for his competitive 2nd Congressional District seat have focused on immigration and border security issues, noting that the smuggling of drugs like fentanyl has caused problems far from the border.

Craig in turn stressed his support for stronger border security and efforts to fund fentanyl scanners at crossings between Mexico and the United States.

Craig went further in her opening remarks Tuesday, calling for “more technology to detect ingredients entering our southern border ports of entry” and going after “the distributors who prey on our young children.”

Klobuchar, who is working on similar bipartisan legislation, highlighted the difficulty she and her colleagues have had in taking on tech companies and a federal law known as Section 230 that provides a powerful legal shield to internet companies.

“We don't have the votes to get rid of Section 230, mainly because [tech companies] “Lobbying,” Klobuchar said, emphasizing that passing smaller bills that address “children’s issues” is one way forward.