Blocking Fraudulent Ads Is the Social Media’s Responsibility, They Say

As investments become more and more for everyone, it creates fruitful soil for various fraudulent offers. Who is responsible for blocking them? Google implements the new policy about these ads which means more regulations from authorities. And it seems that it’s not the Internet giants who initiate this.

At least, this week Britain's Financial Conduct Authority claimed that social media should filter the advertisements they show to its users. The aim of filtering, according to FCA, is to block "dodgy financial promotions" that qualify as fraud though don’t look so. Indeed, advertisements that seem (and probably are, if you are risky enough to check) fraudulent became more and more frequent on social media and on the Internet.

Google turned out to respond the first. Now it claims it will block all the investment advertisements in the UK unless they are explicitly FCA-approved. Ads that get filtered include those involving gold or cryptocurrencies (though the sites in question are still available if you search for them directly).

One of the reasons why online fraud skyrocketed recently is, of course, COVID-19. The more people spend at home, the more they spend their money online and (which is even more important) search for ways to earn online. That’s why online fraud becomes more of a problem in 2021.

As Mark Steward, the FCA's head of enforcement, says, involving social media means that they take their share of responsibility for protecting the community. He praises how the FCA collaborates with Google and claims that other firms expressed willingness to collaborate too. The methods used in filtering, though, remain obscure. Will they be based on users’ responses, or will they primarily use the AI forces? The more transparent it is, the safer it will feel for the users.