Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 73
The move online by pension scammers has been a recurring theme of our inquiry.
Recommendation
The move online by pension scammers has been a recurring theme of our inquiry. Regulators appear powerless to hold online firms to account for hosting scam advertisements in the same way they would be able to for traditional media. Scammers using paid-for online advertisements appear to be particularly hard to tackle without the co-operation of the hosting firm. It is immoral that tech firms such as Google are accepting payment to advertise scams, and then further payment from regulators to warn about the scam. It should not require legislative solutions to deter global firms from benefitting from the proceeds of crime, but unfortunately legislation is clearly needed. We recommend that, in order to create parity between traditional media, such as TV and newspapers, and new media, including search engines and social networks, paid-for advertising on online platforms should be covered by the regulatory framework for financial promotions. This would require online publishers to ensure that any financial promotion which they communicate has been approved by an authorised person or is exempted from the financial promotions regime.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response focuses on existing education and ScamSmart advertising campaigns, and TPR's 'Pledge to Combat Pension Scams' for industry. It does not address the recommendation to bring paid-for online advertising under the financial promotions regulatory framework.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
73
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
The Government believes that it is important that online platform operators take responsibility for the financial promotions they pass on. As part of our departure from the European Union (EU), the Government removed an exemption to the financial promotions regime available to online platforms for incoming electronic communications from the EU. As a result, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is looking at the operations of the major online platforms to determine whether their communication of financial promotions is subject to the financial promotion restriction and, if so, whether they are compliant. Where they are not, the FCA will take action to ensure consumers are protected. HM Treasury will support the FCA in these conversations going forward, as part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to protect consumers from fraud online. As noted on page 2, the Government is engaging with the tech industry to agree next steps for developing a more effective cross-sector response to online fraud.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗