Source · Select Committees · Treasury Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Paragraph: 94
We reiterate our strong belief that the Government should include measures to address fraud via...
Recommendation
We reiterate our strong belief that the Government should include measures to address fraud via online advertising in the Online Safety Bill, in the interests of preventing further harm to customers being offered fraudulent financial products.
Paragraph Reference:
94
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
We note that the Committee has called for Government to include fraud offences in the list of ‘relevant offences’ in Clause 41(4) of the Online Safety Bill. The Government agrees with the Committee that user-generated fraud is a serious issue which needs to be addressed. On 17 March, the Government announced that it would be strengthening the Online Safety Bill to include user-generated fraud offences. This change will mean that social media platforms and search engines will be legally required to take steps to protect their users from fraudulent content. This will ensure online platforms must take reasonable steps to prevent and remove fraudulent content, in line with the approach for other illegal content such as terrorism, and will strengthen the Bill so that it tackles fraud committed by individuals pretending to be legitimate businesses. We recognise the importance of ensuring there is a consistent approach to tackling financial scams across the internet and will continue to work with other government departments, law enforcement, regulators and industry on this issue.