UK Online Safety Bill Puts Internet Ad Scams Under Microscope

Social media companies required to take further steps to protect users

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The U.K. government announced additional amendments to the scope of the Online Safety Bill this week, this time drawing measures to protect people from advertising scams.

Top line

The bill mandates that social media companies including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter—as well as search engines like Google—protect people from both prepaid fraudulent ads and user-generated scams.

The changes are an effort by the British government to make ad industry practices “accountable, transparent and ethical,” Nadine Dorries, U.K. secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, said in a statement.

Between the lines

Under the current draft, the bill aims to protect online users from fake ads that tend to collect user data.

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