DENVER — Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, along with five other attorneys general, sent a demand letter to WeChat on Monday, calling on the messaging platform to end fentanyl trafficking and money laundering communications in the United States.
“It is very problematic on social media platforms like WeChat. It is as easy to order fentanyl as it is to order pizza,” Weiser told Denver7.
WeChat, a Chinese messaging app released in 2011, has over one billion users in China and an estimated 19 million users in the U.S. It features encrypted messaging and a mobile payment service.
Weiser told Denver7 anchor Jessica Porter those features are enabling drug cartels and the illicit fentanyl market to proliferate throughout the U.S.
“This is enabling money laundering, enabling drug distribution and harming kids who are part of the class of consumers who are using this in a way that probably parents have no idea,” Weiser said.
The letter, sent on May 12, demands that WeChat disclose what steps it has taken in response to evidence that the app is being used to facilitate money laundering by fentanyl traffickers and share any documentation on what the company is doing to stop the unlawful activity on its platform.
- Read the full letter below:
A 2024 investigation by Homeland Securitydocumented how Chinese money laundering organizations are using encrypted apps like WeChat to communicate with cartels to move millions of dollars of drug money.
Most of the fentanyl found in the U.S. is produced in Mexico by drug cartels using chemicals smuggled from China.
Fentanyl-related drug overdoses have been a leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 44 since 2013. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 80,391 people died from drug overdose in 2024.
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Weiser said that while most social media companies have adopted policies banning the use of their platforms to promote, buy or sell drugs, WeChat has not acted.
“The fact that so much of this is happening online has to be an area that we are going to address, whether it's through legislation, whether it's through calling out activity or potential enforcement actions,” Weiser said.
Weiser signed the letter along with the attorneys general of North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.
The letter highlights four cases where criminals communicated through WeChat to traffic fentanyl.
- The 2021 conviction of money launderer Xizhi Li for running a transnational criminal ring using WeChat to move bulk cash between Chinese financial operations and drug cartels.
- Operation Chem Capture, a 2023 incident where eight companies and 12 people were indicted for using apps, including WeChat, to sell the chemicals used to make fentanyl.
- Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel and Chinese money laundering organizations use WeChat to launder the proceeds of fentanyl sales in the United States.
- Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice arrested and charged three members of an international money laundering ring in South Carolina for allegedly using WeChat to launder money from fentanyl sales.
The letter requests a formal response from WeChat by June 11, 2025.
