The European Commission is considering a right to automatic refunds for victims of investment fraud ads, and member states are also proposing to require Google and Meta to verify the legitimacy of ads

Investment fraud is a growing problem worldwide, with the EU suffering losses of 4.3 billion euros (approximately 700 billion yen) in 2022 alone. For this reason, the Payment Services Regulatory Committee of the European Commission, the EU's executive body, is discussing giving victims of fraud the 'right to automatic refunds.' In addition, according to a report by the economic newspaper Financial Times, a proposal has been put forward by Ireland to require platforms such as Google and Meta that display advertisements to verify the legitimacy of advertisements, and this proposal has the support of half of the EU member states.

Ireland leads charge to force Big Tech to vet financial ads for scams

Online fraud payment: EU discusses stricter regulations | heise online
https://www.heise.de/en/news/Online-payment-fraud-EU-discusses-stricter-regulations-10377329.html

In order to reduce the damage caused by investment fraud ads, the Irish Treasury's proposal would require platforms to verify the legitimacy of advertisements posted on their platforms, and would only allow advertisements from financial services providers registered in the EU.

Some have pointed out that this is contradictory, as the EU's Digital Services Act stipulates that big tech companies that operate platforms are not required to conduct extensive monitoring of content, but Ireland has countered that 'ad review requirements can be designed to comply with existing law.'

Regina Doherty, a member of the European Parliament from Ireland, told the Financial Times, 'We cannot have glaring holes in the law that would allow criminals to steal people's savings.' 'It's not that we can't, it's that we won't,' she said, arguing that relying on self-regulation by platforms is not enough.

Poland, which chairs the panel, has put forward an alternative proposal to reach an agreement on the legislation, which would 'simplify interactions between platforms and payment processors and block access to content related to ads that have been reported to be causing fraud.'

When asked for comment by the Financial Times, Google declined to comment on the matter, but said, 'We are fighting investment fraud through our tools, people and policies.' Meta, on the other hand, did not comment.