UK Regulator Rips Meta’s Failing Drive vs. Illegal Financial Ads

US tech giant Meta has repeatedly failed to stop illegal ads for high-risk financial products from running on its platforms in Britain, despite committing to block them, according to a review by the country’s financial regulator, Phoebe Seers, Tommy Roggiori Wilkes, and Jeff Horwitz reported for Reuters.

Britain’s FCA warned last year that people were increasingly being targeted on social media by online trading scams in which fraudsters offer currency trades. (Photo: EBC Financial Group) 

Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that during one week in November, 1,052 ads for currency trading and certain complex financial instruments were posted on Meta’s platforms by advertisers not authorized by the regulator to promote them.

Moreover, 56% of those ads came from an unspecified number of unauthorized advertisers the FCA had already flagged to Meta, according to the review seen by Reuters and reported for the first time.

Worldwide, billions of users on Meta’s platforms have been exposed to ads for fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, illegal online casinos, and banned medical products, according to internal Meta documents previously reported by Reuters.

Britain’s FCA warned last year that people were increasingly being targeted on social media by online trading scams in which fraudsters offer currency trades.

The review aimed to assess how successful Meta has been in weeding out rogue ads.