‘We continue to take further steps to protect Australians from scams’: Meta responds to Ministerial lashing
Meta has addressed claims from Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones that it lets “scammers use their network to target victims”, pointing out the work it does to protect Australian social media users from online scams.
Jones let fly during a National Press Club address on Wednesday, blaming Meta and other social media giants for aiding the rise in cybercrime and online scams, saying they “accept the revenue that comes from these criminals placing scam ads on their platforms” without applying appropriate guardrails.
“Digital platforms have a moral obligation to join the fight as part of their social licence,” Jones said. “It’s really time for them to get on the side of consumers”, saying “the social media companies are dragging their heels” on the issue.
A Meta spokesperson rebuffed Jones’ claims this morning, telling Mumbrella: “We continue to take further steps to protect Australians from scams.”
Among these steps are “signing up to the Australian Online Scams Code alongside seven other digital platforms to combat scam activity online, introducing SMS verification for new advertisers to help users stay safe, and removing 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria attempting to target people with financial sextortion scams”.
“We believe that cross-industry collaboration is the most impactful way to tackle scams, and we look forward to continuing this essential work as we deepen our collaborative efforts with numerous industry partners, the government and law enforcement on this important issue.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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