Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp owner Meta has said it is introducing the ability for businesses to report scam ads on its platforms “at scale” after a series of high-profile complaints.
Meta said businesses that use its Brands Right Protection tool, which helps brands “identify and report content for counterfeit, trademark and copyright infringement, and impersonation”, will now be able to report suspected scam ads even when they do not explicitly use their intellectual property.
This would include also include misleading ads that use a brand name without authorisation.
Press Gazette reported earlier this year on the proliferation of scam ads stealing journalists’ identities and using their trusted reputations to trick people into investing in potentially questionable products.
Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf, Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis, CNN anchor Richard Quest and CNBC commentator Karen Finerman are among those whose names and pictures have been used in this way.
The FT’s director of global public policy and platform strategy work Matt Rogerson told Press Gazette on Monday: “The exploitation of trusted brands, along with the reputations of academics, journalists, and business leaders to promote scam posts on social media poses a serious threat to consumers and erodes trust in our entire information ecosystem.
“Meta has been repeatedly identified by UK regulators and US lawmakers as a key conduit for these scams, underscoring the urgent need for the company to take more action.
“Whether their latest steps will make a meaningful difference remains to be seen.”
Under the Online Safety Act social media companies must now mitigate the risks from illegal user-generated content and remove it quickly once they are aware of it.
Ofcom said in May it is “assessing platforms’ compliance with these new duties, and will take action if platforms fail to take appropriate steps to comply with them. We have enforcement work underway in a number of areas…
“Our role is not to assess individual pieces of content. Instead, Ofcom’s job is to make sure platforms are taking effective action to address harmful content through implementing appropriate systems and processes.”
Despite this it is difficult for publishers and other brands to effectively get ads taken down. Wolf wrote for the FT comparing it to playing “whack-a-mole” as even though Meta was taking down the ads, others quickly appeared in their place.
And Lewis wrote to his Facebook followers in April: “There are a raft of these nasty, scam adverts appearing on social media; both with me and others in purporting to people being arrested. They are done by criminals as clickbait with the aim of drawing you in then trying to get you to set up investment products (which aren’t real) and can lead to some losing £10,000s. If you see them report them. Do not open them.”
In addition Press Gazette reported on people being duped by Facebook adverts into joining Whatsapp groups about sham investment products supposedly led by journalists. The Brand Rights Protection covers ads, posts, pages, profiles, groups, accounts and shops/selling groups on Facebook and Instagram but does not appear to be able to crack down on this sort of behaviour on Whatsapp.
In a blog post on Monday, Meta said it has a “comprehensive approach to countering fraud and scams. We have automated detection and content review systems that remove fake accounts and scam posts.
“For example, during 2024, we removed more than 157 million pieces of ad content globally across Facebook and Instagram for violating our policies against fraud, scam, and deceptive practices or unacceptable business practices.”
The Brands Right Protection tool “enables businesses to monitor for and report misuse of their brand across ads and organic content on Facebook and Instagram – such as intellectual property infringement and business impersonation,” the blog continued.
Updates to the tool also include a simplified way of requesting that content is taken down, Meta said.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
