Online giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter should be forced to pay compensation to people duped by scammers operating on their sites, MPs have suggested.
A report by the Treasury Committee said it was “easy for fraudsters” to place rogue adverts on social media and other internet platforms because they were not legally required to verify advertisers’ backgrounds.
It comes amid an “alarming” rise in fraud and other financial crimes in the UK, which the government is failing to do enough to stop, the committee warned.
Online giants criticised for profiting from anti-scam adverts
The report revealed the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) paid more than £1.1m to online companies, including Google, Twitter, TikTok and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, so it could place adverts warning about scams between 2019 and 2021.
The committee said it was “not appropriate” that online companies have been making money both from fraudsters paying to advertise their scams as well as from financial regulators warning about the cons.
Google was paid more than £690,000 by the FCA – which is an independent public body funded by the firms it regulates – while Twitter received more than £161,000, Meta earned more than £364,000 and TikTok was paid £50,000, according to the report.
Mark Steward, the FCA’s director of enforcement, said: “We…
