The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the promotion of prescription drugs. With the emergence of Web 2.0 technology and social media, the FDA faces new regulatory challenges as pharmaceutical companies have started to use social media tools to market prescription drugs to consumers. This paper first explores the history of social media, its use by the FDA, and its growing use by the pharmaceutical industry. The paper then discusses some of the actions that the agency has taken to respond to the industry’s use of social media. Lastly, the paper takes a look at the FDA’s repeated delays in issuing social media guidance, and discusses some of the “social media guidance” that pharmaceutical companies have received from other individuals and groups.
