A new legal duty will be added to the Online Safety Bill requiring the largest and most popular social media platforms and search engines to prevent paid-for fraudulent adverts appearing on their services, says the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS).
Fake ads, on ad-funded platforms such as Meta, Snap, Twitter and TikTok, and and intermediaries such as Google, include where criminals impersonate celebrities or companies to peddle dodgy financial investments; or contain hidden malware that can lead to cyber attacks such as ‘cryptojacking’ – the unauthorised use of people’s devices to mine for cryptocurrency.
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At the DCMS, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “We want to protect people from online scams and have heard the calls to strengthen our new internet safety laws. These changes to the upcoming Online Safety bill will help stop fraudsters conning people out of their hard-earned cash using fake online adverts.
As technology revolutionises more and more of our lives the law must keep up, she added; hence DCMS also announced a review of the wider rules around online advertising for industry practices that are accountable, transparent and ethical.
At the counter-fraud trade association Cifas, CEO Mike Haley said: “During the pandemic, levels of fraud surged as criminals identified weaknesses online that allowed them to conduct convincing scams designed to steal personal details and money. Cifas is pleased to learn that paid-for advertisements will be included in the Online Safety Bill, following months of campaigning by ourselves and our partners. In the earlier proposed version of this Bill, criminal activity could have avoided falling under the scope of the Bill by merely paying to place the content online – a significant loophole that this addition has closed.
“By putting responsibility on major online platforms to prevent fraudulent adverts, in addition to tackling user-generated fraud already covered by the Bill, we hope to see levels of fraud plummet. We look forward to working with DCMS and other organisations on the Online Advertising Programme to reduce the fraudulent abuse of adverts across the full range of online channels in order to make life even tougher for fraudsters.”
Under the current draft of the Bill, search engines and platforms which host user-generated content, video-sharing or live streaming will have a duty of care to protect users of their services from fraud committed by other users. This includes ‘catfishing’ romance scams and fake stock market tips – posted by people in images, comments or videos.
The communications and media regulator Ofcom will set out details on what platforms will need to do to fulfil their new duty, in codes of practice. This could include making firms scan for scam adverts before they are uploaded, checks on the identity of those who wish to publish adverts, or financial promotions only made by firms authorised by the regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Ofcom’s oversight powers will include blocking offenders’ services in the UK or issuing fines.
