【AI前沿】These Instagram Ads Sure Seem to Be Selling Cocaine Accessories

Miles KleeCultureMay 14, 2026 5:30 AMIt Sure Seems Like These Instagram Ads Want You to Do CocaineFrom designer straws to magnet-sealed leather pouches, the platform is awash in products seemingly built for coke—despite Meta’s policies on drug paraphernalia.Photograph: hiroyuki nakai/Getty ImagesCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyCommentLoaderSave StorySave this storyBig money andpowerful interests have entirely rebranded drugs likecannabis,mushrooms, andketaminein the 21st century.Today, millions of Americans can buy their pot legally in places that resembleAppleStores or take powerful psychoactive substances in plushtherapeutic settings. Cocaine, however, has yet to see the kind of tech-fueled makeover that changed the public perception of those drugs—but these luxury products in myInstagramfeed may just give it a glow-up.Though you might not instantly see them as drug paraphernalia, on closer inspection, many of these products are offering to serve a need that no real person has ever had. Consider, for example, thisvideodemonstrating use of a SLYD pouch, a small leather pocket with a magnetic clasp. The ad shows a person loading a small quantity of a powdered substance into the $39 pouch, and a caption exhorts the viewer: “Stop using that sketchy bag for your electrolytes.”The visual comparison with a resealable plastic bag containing whitish electrolyte power should make it clear what is seemingly being suggested here. The custom inscription of the word “BAG,” common drug slang, on the leather sachet dispels any lingering uncertainty. Because while the world has never wanted for a convenient way to carry electrolytes around in one’s pocket, a miniature wallet for cocaine—or other powder drugs like ketamine and MDMA—does have some consumer appeal.It turns out that such accessories are widely (albeit stealthily) marketed on Instagram. An online store called Magic Items sells its own take on the small magnetized leather pouch; it’s called a Wildcard, comes in various sizes priced from $60 to $100, and is stamped with the logo of a rabbit in a jester hat. The company’s Instagram page also features a demonstration withelectrolyte powder, though some of the comments on the post give the game away: “Will a dog still be able to smell through it?” asked one prospective customer.Another postshows a Wildcard next to a plastic dime bag, advertising it as “anti clog” and “luxury,” whereas the more common means of carrying “electrolytes” is “hard to open” and “single use.”“In 2022, something changed,” reads apageon Magic Items’ website explaining the invention of the Wildcard. “Everyone wanted to be out again—at parties, on rooftops, in the desert—feeling good with music thumping and friends nearby. The world was alive, and everything just wanted to work better. We all needed a water-tight container that was low profile and stylish, but there was no great option available.”A similar brand, FattyPack, has drawn comments from Instagram users observing that its product iswell-suited for holding drugs, and recently posted a demo on how toattach a key to the bag—a useful tool if you’re going to be scooping powder out of it.The makers of the SLYD pouch did not respond to a request for comment. Via Instagram DM, a representative for Magic Items denied that the company is selling drug paraphernalia or promoting the use of illicit substances, both of which would violate Meta’sadvertising policiesand guidelines onrestricted goods and services. “It is a multi-use bag for perishables,” the rep said of the Wildcard. In an Instagram DM, a FattyPack representative says: “Since we don’t promote our product for drug use, we’ve had zero issues with Meta ads. While some customers may use it that way, we leave that to individual interpretation.”Meta spokesperson Erica Sackin tells WIRED that it is investigating a number of the brand accounts mentioned in this article. The company said it routinely conducts sweeps in order to crack down on users who violate their policies on illicit drugs.The various mini-wallet manufacturers have some plausible deniability when it comes to their leather goods. SLYD, for example, mostly touts its sleeve as a convenient carrying case fornicotine pouches. But the makers of high-tech nasal straws are a little more out in the open. First, there’s Bumpskē, a stainless-steel gadget that wouldn’t look out of place in a James Bond film, touted as a superior straw for the snorting of cacao. (A supposed European club craze for raw cacao “snuff” in the late 2010s led one enterprising Florida man to debut a snortable “Coco Loko” powder in 2017, though you can be the judge of whether this trend ever took off.)Bumpskē’s Instagram page presented the device as a luxury essential for music festival and club settings, complete with an LED light at the tip to facilitate use in darker environments. Aside from having “bump” in the name (a common term for a small dose of cocaine), the account, which was removed after WIRED