Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones has told Meta, parent company of Facebook, that it is “not above the law” when it comes to its role in facilitating online fraud and scams.
Mr Jones says social media services owned by Meta, including Facebook and Instagram, are responsible for around 80 per cent of losses to scams involving social media, and is something of a platform of choice for criminal activity.
He was speaking to reporters while attending the Global Fraud Summit in London, where leaders from 11 countries – including the UK, US, Canada and South Korea – are backing an international framework to tackle scams and other forms of online fraud.
Mr Jones was spruiking Australia’s two-phase approach to tackling online scams, telling the press conference his government’s plans to take on the social media giants are already bearing fruit.
“Whether it’s Australia, whether it’s the UK, or any of the other countries that we’ve met with in the last 24 hours, we were very firm from the Australian point of view: no social media platform is above the law,” he said.
Scam centre
Phase one of the plan was establishing the National Scam Centre (NSC), which has released its latest quarterly report, covering the October-December 2023 period. The data shows Australians reported $82.1 million in losses to scams over the quarter, which is down 43 per cent from the same quarter in 2022, and down 26 per cent on the July to September 2023 quarter.
“How’s it going? You’d have to say well,” Mr Jones told reporters after a question about the effectiveness of the NSC’s efforts.
“So instead of scams moving from doubling from one year to the next, we’ve seen for the first time two consecutive quarters of reduction.”
Phase two of the Albanese government’s plan includes developing mandatory industry codes that impose tough new obligations on banks, telcos, and social media platforms to protect their customers from scams.
Forced to comply
While Australian-based banks and telcos will be forced to comply, it’s a different story for social media companies, most of whom are based outside the reach of Australian law.
Meta-owned companies, in particular, have been resistant to previous attempts at Australian regulation, threatening on many occasions to withdraw Facebook and Instagram services from the country if any restrictions are imposed.
Mia Garlick, Meta regional director of policy, told AdNews the company believes cross-industry collaboration is key to tackling this challenge, rather than hyperfocusing on social media.
She says the majority of scams in Australia are actually perpetrated via text message (33 per cent), phone (29 per cent) or email (22 per cent), compared with just 6 per cent via social networks and online forums.
“Tackling this solution can’t be done by one company or one sector in isolation,” she says.
Anti-scam measures
She says Meta is developing a number of anti-scam measures that it will begin testing soon, including new escalation channels for ‘trusted partners’ such as the financial sector; new advertiser verification; new educational resources including an anti-scam resource hub and new consumer campaigns.
But the Assistant Treasurer is less than impressed with Meta’s efforts, telling reporters he was “frankly disappointed” with the company’s submission to the government’s consultation for the code of practice.
“They say ‘yes this is a big problem but it’s all too hard, we can’t do anything about it’. Give me a break,” Mr Jones said.
“These guys are the biggest technologists in the world, they employ the best information technologists, the best engineers, the best process experts in the world, they are the biggest and the best.
“Don’t tell me they can’t do more.”
Do you find more scams on Facebook compared with other social media? Do you think Meta needs to be held more accountable? Let us know in the comments section below.
Also read: 10 signs you could be dating an online scammer