14 Public Interest Groups Urge Meta to Act on Scam Ads
Washington, DC – Today, the National Consumers League and 13 other public interest groups urged Meta to implement new policies to combat the epidemic of scam ads on its platforms, which includes Facebook and Instagram. The advocacy effort comes after reporting that the company at one point projected 10% of its revenue to come from advertisements for scams and banned goods. Meta also privately estimated that the company facilitated a third of all successful scams in the United States.
“Preventing the proliferation of scams is one of the most effective ways to protect the public from further losses,” said John Breyault, NCL Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications, and Fraud. “Meta is uniquely positioned to stop a massive amount of fraud before it even happens. We believe it has a responsibility to do so.”
The consumer groups are pushing Meta to establish a victim restitution program, strengthen its oversight of advertisers, and increase transparency into its handling of suspected scam ads.
The organizations also indicated that they are exploring ways to support new state and federal legal requirements, including the enforcement of existing statutes prohibiting unfair and deceptive practices and the enactment of new legislation regarding the facilitation of scam advertisements.
“Given Meta’s enormous size and the scale of its platforms, it is one of the entities in the fraud ecosystem best positioned to combat these crimes,” wrote the groups.
The full letter can be found here.
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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
