Big tech platforms will be required to ban scam advertisers in the UK under proposals to tackle online fraud.<\/p>\n
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X and YouTube will have to block bad actors who post fraudulent ads and prevent them from creating new accounts in measures targeted at the biggest services.<\/p>\n
The potential changes include: reducing the risk of accounts being hijacked and turned into hosts for scams, ensuring that ads for banking or financial services have legal clearance, and giving law enforcement channels for identifying fraudulent ads.<\/p>\n
Ofcom, the UK\u2019s communications regulator, announced the proposals under the next phase of implementing the Online Safety Act (OSA), which places responsibilities on tech companies to protect users from harmful content.<\/p>\n
The scam ad requirements apply to large social media platforms, as well as Google and ChatGPT. Fraudulent ads cost victims in the UK about \u00a3200m a year, Ofcom said.<\/p>\n
Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom\u2019s online safety group director, said tech groups had not done enough to combat fraudsters on their platforms. \u201cWe expect firms to take robust action to stamp out scam ads and boot out the bad actors behind them to safeguard their users,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Once the new measures come into effect and become legally binding under the OSA, failure to implement them could result in fines of up to 10% of a platform\u2019s global revenue. Ofcom urged firms to improve their anti-fraud measures immediately, but the consultation on specific steps that launched on Friday closes in October and final decisions will not be made until next year.<\/p>\n
The consumer group Which? welcomed the proposals as it accused tech firms of treating scam ads as a \u201cprofitable income stream\u201d, but expressed concerns that measures would not be implemented until next year.<\/p>\n
Rocio Concha, the head of policy and advocacy at Which?, said: \u201cThis is very problematic at a time when breakneck advances in AI are making scams more sophisticated than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bank of England warned the public last month against falling for AI-generated scams after deepfake videos of Nigel Farage fighting its governor spread online<\/a>. Martin Lewis, the finance expert, has repeatedly urged the government to tackle scam ads that use his image<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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