According to The echoes, the British Treasury Committee has just dropped a small bombshell. MEPs believe that web giants such as Google and Facebook (now Meta), which can benefit from advertising revenue from unscrupulous actors, be able to reimburse victims of online fraud. One way to apply the principle of ” polluter pays “.
British MPs want to blame web giants for online fraud
In a recent report, British parliamentarians made a proposal that should be discussed in the coming months. They feel that “The British government should seriously consider that the web giants may have to reimburse Internet users who are victims on their sites”. With this idea, British MPs want to hold the tech giants accountable. They point out that making technology companies responsible for reimbursing consumers “should quickly transform their approach to these online frauds”.
Beijing tries to create a special committee to circumvent US sanctions
MEPs take the example of banks and compare their responsibility to that of web giants. They explain that a bank undertakes to reimburse the victims of fraud, including bank card fraud, even if it is not the fault of the bank. To ensure that Google and Meta no longer agree to advertise financial products prohibited by law, the American giants have been working for several months with the British financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, the deputies want to go even further.
The UK has become the epicenter of bank fraud
TechUK, the organization that represents tech giants in the UK, recently reported that Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft have taken steps to “Only advertise from financial services authorized by the FCA”. The association adds that Google, TiKTok and Amazon are preparing to do the same. The FCA is still waiting for calendar indications… However, this is not a trivial subject. In 2020 there were 30,000 cases of fraud potential at FCA, a jump of 77% year-on-year. An increase probably linked to the rise of cryptocurrencies.
The United Kingdom has even become the country where bank fraud is the most important. The country has set a sad record with 754 million pounds (905 million euros) “stolen”, during the first six months of 2021, a further increase of 30% compared to 2020. This is why British MPs believe that it is important to act quickly, with dissuasive measures. The web giants would certainly be more vigilant if such regulations were effective. TechUK ensures that its members “are committed to working with government, law enforcement and the financial industry to combat financial fraud”.