Scam ads still appear on Google and Facebook, although an important number of victims reported them. According to Which?, the consumer watchdog in the United Kingdom, the platforms failed to remove them.
A third of the scam ads are still online
Both giants said that they removed the bad ads. Still, the Which? discovered that 34% of those on Google and 26% of the ones on Facebook are still online.
According to the report, 15% of the respondents were victims of these scams and reported them. And most of these, which means 27%, had been on Facebook, while 19% appeared on Google.
Still, more than 40% of the victims did not report the scams. Users on Facebook said that they did not think about reporting as they doubted the company would do anything. Those who became victims on Google did now know how to report it.
The approach should be more proactive
Researchers mentioned that the situation has three causes. The first is the inaction from online platforms. Then come the law reporting level and the ease with which advertisers can post new scam ads.
This ”suggests that online platforms need to take a far more proactive approach.” So, it means they should prevent such content from reaching users.
As a result, the watchdog considers that “online platforms must be given a legal responsibility.” This means that “the government needs to act now.”
Rules sound good but are not enough
According to a Facebook representative, “Fraudulent activity is not allowed on Facebook,” he said. Also, he added that the platform took action on more pages after Which?’s report.
On the other hand, Google announced it had disabled more than 3.1 billion ads for policy violations. “We have strict policies that govern the kinds of ads that we allow to run on our platform,” they said.
Still, some of the scam ads are still in the wild and ready to make new victims. To stay away from such threats, Ad Guardian Plus is here for you!
