Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is urging Mark Zuckerberg to help stop immigration scams from proliferating on Meta\u2019s platforms, marking the second time in recent weeks that a New York City prosecutor has sought to hold a social media company accountable for residents\u2019 safety.<\/p>\n
Bragg wrote in a letter<\/a> Thursday to Meta CEO Zuckerberg that \u201cimposter accounts\u201d pretending to offer legal services are increasingly using Facebook and WhatsApp to target unsuspecting victims and convince them to send money. The scammers often imitate real organizations and lawyers, even using their logos to create the appearance of credibility, the letter said.<\/p>\n Victims have lost tens of thousands of dollars as a result of these scams, Bragg said. Meta\u2019s terms of service for users<\/a> prohibit conduct that is \u201cunlawful, misleading, discriminatory or fraudulent,\u201d but the DA argues the company is enabling \u201cbad actors\u201d to steal from vulnerable immigrants via its platforms.<\/p>\n \u201cFacebook specifically provides an option for reporting what it describes as \u2018impersonating profiles,\u2019\u201d he wrote. \u201cHowever, we have spoken with at least two institutional leaders of pro bono legal services organizations whose requests to remove false profiles were declined despite following this reporting protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n Bragg called on Meta to help crack down on the scams, including by making it easier for law enforcement agencies to report accounts engaged in criminal activity. He also asked Meta to temporarily suspend imposter accounts alleged to have committed a crime and ensure users claiming to represent legal service providers match those organizations\u2019 geographic locations.<\/p>\n Meta did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Gothamist. Bragg requested a meeting with company representatives to address the problem, but the DA\u2019s office said it has yet to hear back from the tech giant.<\/p>\n The New York Immigration Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group, praised Bragg\u2019s action on the issue. President and CEO Murad Awawdeh said in a statement Friday that \u201cMeta and other social media platforms must do more to take responsibility and protect users from exploitation,\u201d while New York \u201cmust continue to invest\u201d in bona fide legal services.<\/p>\n Bragg\u2019s outreach is the latest instance of a local DA pressing social media companies to counter public safety dangers on their platforms. Bronx DA Darcel Clark urged<\/a> several firms last week to help prevent chaotic teen \u201ctakeovers\u201d of public spaces, saying such incidents are often driven by social media content. In February, hundreds of teens descended on a mall<\/a> in the borough, causing disruption and leading to multiple arrests on rioting and unlawful assembly charges.<\/p>\n