President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on Tuesday by pressing pharmaceutical companies to comply with transparency laws in their advertising, particularly on social networks. The administration will track 100 letters of cessation and application of withdrawal and thousands of warning letters to the companies, administration officials said.
The objective, administration officials said in a call with journalists on Tuesday morning, is to use laws that are already in books to ensure that people receive transparent and precise information about drugs, especially possible risk factors.
Administration officials pointed out medications or products that are promoted in social media sites such as Instagram or Tiktok with influential people who do not clearly identify as paid spokesmen.
Multiple studies of pharmaceutical promotions on social networks have found that information is often of lower quality than someone would get if they talked to their doctor, and also often borders the regulatory guidelines of the FDA. For example, a 2015 study found that only one third of the publications listed the possible drug damage.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy Jr., testifies to the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office building, September 4, 2025 in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
“There has been wide frustration with the growing prevalence of these ads creating a misleading impression, specifically that it does not reveal the side effects in an adequate way: announcements that have now invaded social networks without adequate revelations and advertisements of online pharmacies that do not follow the same rules as many pharmaceutical companies follow,” said a high -level administration officer.
But this policy is expected to consider certain online pharmacies or dump some offers of social media brands, it is well received by the broader pharmaceutical industry, said a senior administration official.
“I will tell you that a couple of CEO of a large pharmaceutical company have told me to take measures in pharmaceutical ads, including the ads they run,” said the official. “There is this general frustration that we have created a small arms race where there is so much money in this space.”
Making the regulations, in effect, will make social networks less a wild west and will put companies on the same field, said the official.
Administration officials insisted that it was the “boldest”, “possible” action that the president could assume, although he does not reach a Secretary of Human Health and Services of Commitment Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Before assuming the position: Prohibit the pharmaceutical ads of television completely.
“One of the things that I am going to advise Donald Trump to do to correct the epidemic of chronic diseases is to prohibit pharmaceutical advertising on television,” Kennedy said in a Trump manifestation before the November elections.
When asked if the Administration planned to follow a general prohibition of pharmaceutical ads, a senior administration official said that “there are no additional steps planned” beyond Tuesday’s executive action.
“This presidential memorandum is the strongest and most bold action we can take to ensure that patients have adequate security information about pharmaceutical ads,” said the official.
The United States is one of the two countries around the world that allows ads of direct prescription drugs to the consumer. The other is New Zealand.
