As thefts and scams are increasingly common on social media, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has advised US users to disable targeted advertising, if possible, to guard against these crimes. Several players in the world of advertising castigate the words of the American agency.
A significant increase in social media scams in 2021
According to an FTC report, reports of losses due to fraudulent schemes initiated on social networks more than doubled between 2020 and 2021 in the United States, from 46,000 to 95,000. In total, Internet users lost 770 million last year, compared to 258 million in 2020. Thus, social networks allowed scammers to extract more money than more traditional methods, such as phone calls or fraudulent emails, which respectively brought in 546 million and $554 million in 2021.
IAB Europe fined for GDPR violation
While many dating and investment scams have been reported, the FTC says the largest number of reports come from people who were robbed while trying to buy something they saw advertised on social media. In almost 70% of these reports, the victims explain that they ordered a product, generally after seeing an advertisement, which never reached them.
In the majority of cases, 9 out of 10, the scams happened on platforms owned by Meta. In this case, on Instagram or on Facebook.
The FTC’s advice to avoid being a victim
According to the FTC, people with bad intentions use tools available to advertisers on social media platforms to systematically target people with bogus advertisements based on personal details such as their age, interests or past purchases “. The agency therefore advises Internet users to protect themselves by limiting the people who can see their publications and their information, and by checking whether they can refuse targeted advertisements… Suggestions which are not shared by players in the advertising sector. pub.
” Disabling the settings for personalized ads on social platforms is a terrible idea. Users have a much better experience with social platforms when the ads that fund the platforms are relevant to them, and scammers can easily scam without using targeted ads “, explains to wall street journal Wayne Blodwell, Founder and Managing Director of TPA Digital Ltd, a digital advertising consultancy.
” I can say with some confidence that opting out of targeted ads, to the extent you have the option on these platforms, will not protect you from fraudulent ads. The best thing you can do is educate yourself about the different types of scams and red flags of scams, and have a healthy skepticism about anything you see on a social media platform, especially if it is an advertisement “, he continues.
According to Wayne Blodwell, cybercriminals can indeed target users indiscriminately, without the need for separate personal information about them.
The majority of scams that have taken place on social media have happened on Instagram or Facebook. Illustration: Muhammad Asyfaul / Unsplash
Cybercrime on the rise globally
The IAB Tech Lab, a non-profit consortium developing products and standards for everyone in the advertising world, says it has developed tools that allow advertisers to better authenticate themselves, which allows platforms to eliminate fraudulent companies more easily. ” Adopting these solutions and fixing this problem not only protects the consumer, but also protects the advertiser from bad actors who use their brand to defraud customers and defame their brand image. says Shailley Singh, the organization’s senior vice president of global product and program management.
For its part, Meta claims to have come to better understand the common characteristics of fraudulent advertisements and, consequently, to improve its automated detection systems as well as the processes of its human examiners.
This increase in cybercrime on social networks is in line with a more global trend, which has seen cyberattacks as well as online scams increase exponentially since 2020 and the start of the pandemic. For example, the sums obtained as a result of ransomware have exploded since 2020.
Targeted advertising in the sights of the authorities
If the intervention of the FTC is not to everyone’s taste, it is clear that the agency is showing greater severity with the technological giants. Moreover, it is not surprising to see targeted advertising targeted again by the American authorities.
Recently, a bill wishing to ban it was presented across the Atlantic. According to political figures who support him, targeted advertising “ fuels misinformation, discrimination, voter suppression, abuse of privacy, and so many other harms “. If passed, the legislation would sound like a thunderclap for the advertising industry.