Minister slams Meta for letting ‘scammers use their network to target victims’
Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones will hit out at Meta and other social media giants during a National Press Club address on Wednesday, blaming them for the prevalence of economic scams in Australia.
Jones will take aim at social media companies, such as TikTok, Meta, and X for letting “scammers use their network to target victims”, during the speech, calling it “offensive” and “worse that they accept the revenue that comes from these criminals placing scam ads on their platforms”.
“Digital platforms have a moral obligation to join the fight as part of their social licence,” the address reads.
“It’s really time for them to get on the side of consumers.”
Jones will use Wednesday’s address to point out that, while overall scam losses dropped in 2023, social media based scams have increased for the first time since 2016.
“While scam losses are down across most contact modes, this is not the case for social media,” according to Jones.
“Scam losses originating on social media were up 17 per cent in 2023. Scam reports were up 31 per cent. And the social media companies are dragging their heels.”
Jones notes that scams based on social media platforms impact the way consumers do business through other means.
“Consumers aren’t answering calls from call centres because it might be from a scammer. The genuine message from a business about the arrival of a package, an overdue bill or the change in a service are lost among the millions of SMS scams flooding our phones.
“To lock in the benefits of a digital economy we have to address these risks and ensure that Australians feel safe and secure. Without security, consumers will lose the confidence to participate in the digital economy. That is a cost borne by all.”
Jones will also highlight the National Anti-Scam Centre’s next priority, being to stop jobs and employment scams.
“These scams – frequently posted on Meta platforms – use the allure of a job which does not exist to scam a victim.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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