discussed<\/a> the regulator\u2019s attempts to understand illegal gambling, which is of interest as his agency\u2019s purpose is to oversee licensed gambling and reduce any harms it causes.<\/p>\nThat job is made harder if illegal gambling operations offer an alternative. Miller therefore called for licensed operators to ensure \u201cclear blue water\u201d between their services and others.<\/p>\n
He said the waters are instead muddy, because regulators around the world \u201care increasingly identifying suppliers, affiliates, advertisers, tech companies and others that work with licensed operators but who are also providing the same services to the illegal market.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then took aim at tech companies which help to facilitate illegal gambling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are using the same suppliers, such as web hosting companies, as the majority of illegal websites, then you are helping to build the illegal market,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd, if you are marketing your products through platforms, including social media, that also promote illegal online casinos, then you are helping to build the illegal market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meta\u2019s \u2018simply false\u2019 stance<\/p>\n
He then segued to a discussion of Meta, which he said often serves ads for illegal gambling operations \u2013 some of which use keywords to describe services that do not participate in the UK\u2019s \u201cGamstop\u201d service that allows people to self-exclude from use of gambling sites.<\/p>\n
If we can find them, then so can Meta: They simply choose not to look<\/p>\n
\u201cCompanies like Meta will tell you that they don\u2019t tolerate the advertising of illegal sites and will remove them if they are notified about them,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that approach suggests that they don\u2019t know about those ads unless alerted. That is simply false.\u201d<\/p>\n
His support for that assertion is that Meta provides a searchable library of its advertisers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou or I can conduct such a search for \u2018not on Gamstop\u2019 sites and see for ourselves how many are currently paying Meta to advertise on their platforms,\u201d he said, and described the results of such searches as \u201ceffectively a window into criminality.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can find them, then so can Meta: They simply choose not to look,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Miller said the Gambling Commission has tried to engage Meta, but \u201caside from a few warm words we have got very limited progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir suggestion was that we should deploy AI tools ourselves to monitor and find these ads and then report them,\u201d he said, before declaring himself \u201cvery surprised if Meta, as one of the world\u2019s largest tech companies is incapable of proactively using their own keyword facility to prevent the advertising of illegal gambling.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could leave you with the impression they are quite happy to turn a blind eye and continue taking money from criminals and scammers until someone shouts about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller thinks Meta must decide whose side it is on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe consumer and users of your platforms, many of whom are seeking to escape gambling harm? Or the criminals and con artists who are using your platforms to prey on vulnerable people right in front of your eyes and whose clutches you risk pushing those vulnerable people into?\u201d Miller ended his speech with the observation that no actor can defeat illegal gambling by working alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to work together to ensure that there is no room for suppliers and other companies who want to benefit from the legitimate industry whilst also actively undermining our collective efforts to tackle illegal gambling operators,\u201d he said. \u201cGovernment, regulators and industry should no longer tolerate anyone having a foot in both camps. It\u2019s time to work together. It\u2019s time to force them to pick a side.\u201d<\/p>\n
A reminder: Meta\u2019s structure means its CEO Mark Zuckerberg holds a majority of voting rights, meaning shareholders cannot vote him out of his job. \u00ae<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of the UK\u2019s Gambling Commission has accused social media giant Meta of lying about its ability…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[64,63,137,514,515],"class_list":{"0":"post-425390","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}