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Internet: Fraud

Question for Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

UIN HL1176, tabled on 16 June 2021

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that tech companies providing advertising space for financial products do not host advertisements from rogue or scam operators, in order to ensure that consumers are protected.

Answered on

23 June 2021

The Government takes fraud very seriously. We continue to work closely with industry to close down the vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit and ensure members of the public have the information they need to spot a scam and stand up to fraudsters.

My department continues to work closely with other government departments, including the Home Office as the government department responsible for tackling fraud, to develop a coherent approach to online advertising that supports competition and protects consumers. We are working with industry, regulators and consumer groups to understand the specific harms that are being linked to advertising, including online fraud and scams.

Following a call for evidence in 2020, the Online Advertising Programme will launch a public consultation later this year to examine how best to strengthen standards around the placement and content of online advertising to minimise these types of financial harm, and to ensure they can be effectively enforced.

More information about the Programme can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-advertising-call-for-evidence/online-advertising-call-for-evidence