Report: TikTok's GLP-1 gray market unsafe for consumers
The combination of GLP-1s — taken for weight loss — and social media could be putting the lives of women at risk.
A study by the advocacy group UltraViolet found multiple companies on TikTok selling unregulated, fake products on what the group calls the GLP-1 gray market. Gray markets operate outside of authorized distribution channels and may offer counterfeit products.
Victoria Schmidt, a working mother from Texas, said she ordered two separate GLP-1 patches from the TikTok Shop and each time received the wrong product. Schmidt did not use the patches and warned women to be careful.
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"When I first started this journey, every other ad was GLP-1 shots or the patches. So I was excited because I saw all these people that were like showing before and afters and how they lost all this weight, and it was so great for them," Schmidt recounted.
UltraViolet's report showed Schmidt is not alone. The group studied more than 200 TikTok accounts promoting the sale of unregulated GLP-1 drugs and found most of them target middle-aged women.
Jenna Sherman, campaign director for UltraViolet, said the sale of weight loss drugs on gray and black markets appears to go virtually unchecked. Sherman added the research draws attention to two problems: the high cost of weight loss medications and how women are viewed by society.
"A lot of women actually really need access to these drugs, but they can't access them because they cost too much money or there are insurance barriers or women are dismissed," Sherman outlined.
Sherman added some GLP-1 products are distributed in powder form and need to be mixed into dosages. Sherman argued TikTok is violating its own policies, which prohibit the sale of high-risk goods and services.
Schmidt had words of advice for anyone buying weight loss products online.
"There are fakes and scams out there, so one thing you can do to protect yourself is to look at, is this the original company? Do they have thousands in stock? Have they had thousands of sales? And then go and look at the reviews," Schmidt recommended.
