The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) publishes a study highlighting the persistence of numerous fraudulent advertisements across Meta’s platforms (Facebook, Instagram), TikTok, and Google.
These ads promote deceptive financial products: quick loans, purportedly safe investments, or guaranteed-return schemes. It is a large-scale phenomenon: 4.2 billion € were taken from European consumers in 2024 through payment fraud.
Investigators have also found serious shortcomings in the tools intended to protect users. More than half (53%) of reports of potentially fraudulent advertisements submitted by investigators were ignored or rejected.
Yet, the European Digital Services Act (DSA) requires platforms to ensure transparency about advertisements and advertisers, to establish effective reporting mechanisms for illicit content, and to remove such content.
DSA Shortcomings
However, according to the survey, Meta, TikTok, and Google breach the regulation on several points. They are accused of:
- disseminating fraudulent advertisements on a large scale despite obligations to assess and mitigate risks (DSA Articles 34 and 35);
- relying on reporting and appeals mechanisms that are ineffective, arbitrary, and not transparent (DSA Articles 16 and following);
- keeping fake accounts active and failing to suspend “repeat offenders” (DSA Articles 23 and 24);
- offering ad libraries that are incomplete, hard to access, and not compliant with transparency requirements (DSA Article 39).
In light of these findings, Que Choisir, alongside 30 European consumer organizations and BEUC, has filed a complaint with ARCOM (Autorité de Régulation de la Communication Audiovisuelle et Numérique) against Meta, TikTok, and Google.
They are calling on ARCOM and the European Commission to open investigations into the practices of these three platforms, to demand their immediate conformity with the DSA, and, if the breaches persist, to impose deterrent sanctions.
