Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what regulatory steps her Department has taken to prevent technology companies from profiting from online scam advertisements.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Fraud and other financial crimes are ‘priority offences’ under the Online Safety Act, meaning regulated services must prevent users encountering user-generated fraudulent content, swiftly remove it if it appears, and mitigate and manage the risk of their services facilitating fraud.
Ofcom has robust powers to act if it finds services are failing in their regulatory duties, including issuing fines of £18 million or 10% global turnover, whichever is higher.