Facebook could face fresh legal action to defend its record on scammers, with the consumer watchdog revealing its investigation into Facebook’s parent company, Meta, was in the “very advanced” stages.
Key points:
- Facebook could soon be legally defending its record on scammers
- The ACCC says scams on social media mislead customers, which is against consumer law
- ACCC chair Rod Sims says talks with banks and telcos to shut down scammers have been productive
Speaking to the ABC before he steps down as chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Rod Sims revealed fresh details of the investigation, which was first announced last month.
The pace and progress of the ACCC’s probe are expected to dial up the pressure on digital players after businessman Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest launched a criminal case against Facebook last month.
Mr Forrest alleges the social media giant breached anti-money laundering laws by failing to stop criminals using fake advertisements featuring celebrities, including himself, to scam Australians.
According to Mr Sims, a key issue in the ACCC’s investigation – which is separate from Mr Forrest’s action — is whether the social media giant has done enough to get rid of scammers from its platform.
“We have a very advanced investigation into whether a large digital platform should have taken down scams when they knew they were scams,” Mr Sims said.
“I think if you know something’s a scam and yet you’ve got this platform, I think there is…
