In response to numerous complaints about attempted fraud in the USA, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is responsible for consumer protection, is demanding detailed reports from the big eight social media and streaming companies on how they intend to prevent misleading advertising on their platforms in the future. These include metas Instagram and Facebook as well as TikTok and YouTube.
Clear the air for scams on social media and video streaming platforms
“The FTC has revealed that major social media and video streaming platforms have become significant drivers of misleading ads, financial fraud, and other criminal activity,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan. “It is important for us to understand why fraud is spreading on social media.”
FTC staff have received numerous complaints about fraud based on social media ads - a trend that appears to be increasing, says Laura Sullivan, an attorney in the FTC's Advertising Practices Division. “We seek information about companies’ business practices to protect consumers from fraudulent health products, financial fraud, the purchase of counterfeit goods and other scams.”
Victims are precisely targeted
“I am very interested in understanding how the personalization and targeting tools that the platforms provide enable fraudsters to target their victims more precisely. Statements from targeted companies could enable the Commission to combat consumer fraud more effectively,” says Khan.
FTC Commissioners Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya welcome the fact that both English- and Spanish-language advertising will be assessed. “There are good reasons to believe that U.S. citizens whose native language is not English are less protected from fraudulent advertising. Of course, there are many more languages spoken in the United States than just English and Spanish. But studying the second most spoken language is a good start and underlines the Commission's commitment to protecting consumers in every language community,” explains Slaughter.
Source:
Press release
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