The parent company for two of the largest social media platforms is under fire for failing to prevent an “epidemic of scams” that prey on its users, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Journal found that Meta Platforms, the parent company for Facebook and Instagram, accounted for nearly half of the reported scams on the digital payment service Zelle for JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., from the summer of 2023 to the summer of 2024. Sources told the Journal that other banks using Zelle have experienced similar problems with scams originating on Meta’s platforms.
Meta found in an internal review from 2022 that 70% of newly active advertisers on their platforms promote “low quality” products, illicit goods, or outright scams. Another internal document from 2024 reviewed by the Journal showed that Meta allows advertisers to rack up eight to 32 automatic “strikes” for fraud before their accounts are banned.
“As this scam activity has become more persistent and sophisticated, so have our efforts,” a spokesperson for Meta said in a statement noting that the company is working to combat “an epidemic of scams” on their platforms.
Meta is currently testing facial-recognition technology to help crack down on scammers and is rolling out additional warnings to users. The company is also working to strengthen its partnerships with banks and tech companies to help combat scams “since this crime affects many industries and cuts across different parts of society.”
The spokesperson also noted that the company’s arguments in court that Meta has no legal liability to address scams on its platforms do not affect their policies on “scammy activity” on Facebook and Instagram.
“We of course don’t want scammy activity on our platform and nothing about this statement— a nuanced legal argument — should be read to suggest otherwise,” the spokesperson said.
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