Big tech has caved in to pressure over scams and will now only take ads from financial firms regulated by the City watchdog.
Twitter, Facebook owner Meta and Microsoft have joined Google in confirming they will check the validity of businesses which want to advertise before accepting their money.
In a letter to Parliament’s treasury committee, social media company Tiktok said it took £50,000 from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to run the its adverts warning internet users about scams.
Crackdown: Twitter, Facebook owner Meta and Microsoft have joined Google in confirming they will check the validity of firms which want to advertise before accepting their money
It comes as internet giants have been blasted by MPs for taking money from the FCA, and at the same time profiting from the criminals who pay to promote scams.
This year the Mail revealed Google got £600,000 from the FCA in 2020 to run warnings.
Google has started checking its advertisers against the FCA’s list of legitimate financial firms, cutting the number of cons hugely.
As other tech giants follow suit, it is a win for the Mail, whose Stamp Out Investment Fraud campaign has sought to make internet firms take more responsibility for frauds they help to propagate.
