Big tech shirks probe into income from scam ads – CityAM : CityAM
Tech mega caps avoided a probe into how much money they earn from paid-for advertisements on their platforms for unregulated financial products.
Responding to questions from the Treasury Committee, Facebook said: “Quantifying advertising revenue from companies not authorised by the FCA to promote a regulated financial product poses challenges.”
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“Not only is it commercially sensitive information, providing accurate and meaningful data would be dependent on the advertiser categorising their content correctly in the first instance,” the social media giant added.
The questions, led by chair of the Treasury Committee, Mel Stride MP, comes after a poor oversight of unregulated financial products being promoted across the interview generated a string of scandals.
London Capital and Finance spent £20m advertising through Google, promoting its mini-bond products that ultimately left investors £200m out of pocket after the firm collapsed in January 2019.
Google similarly shirked questions on revenue generated by paid-for advertisements of financial products.
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“Given the global nature of our products and operations we do not track enforcement costs on a country-specific basis,” it said.
Commenting on the responses, Rt. Hon. Mel Stride MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee, said: “Last month, following an evidence session in Parliament, I asked Google, Facebook, Amazon and eBay for further details on how they are protecting their users from falling victim to economic crime.”
“With cases of fraud rising rapidly, it’s clear that further action is needed to protect consumers online. As a Committee, we’re calling for online technology companies to stop taking advertising pounds from these fraudsters – and to act to better protect their users as a matter of urgency.”
“We’re also proposing that the Government includes fraudulent advertisements within the scope of the Online Safety Bill.”
“If these actions are not taken, then many thousands more innocent consumers will fall victim to these criminals.”