Doherty welcomes end to digital “wild west” as EU passes crackdown on social media fraud

The European Parliament and Member States have today agreed a major strengthening of consumer protections in payment services, a move Regina Doherty MEP has described as a “seismic shift in accountability” for the largest online platforms.

The Fine Gael MEP welcomed the breakthrough, saying, “for too long, platforms have profited from misery.”

“Meta has even admitted that around 10% of its profits, roughly 16 billion US dollars, came from scam-related activity, a staggering figure that shows just how deeply this problem runs. This agreement ends that.”

Under the deal reached, online platforms will now be liable to payment service providers that have reimbursed victims of fraud if those platforms were informed of fraudulent content and failed to remove it. This represents a significant step beyond the Digital Services Act and introduces a clear legal consequence for inaction.

The agreement also introduces strict new requirements for financial advertisers. Any entity advertising financial services online must demonstrate to very large platforms and search engines that they are legally authorised (or officially exempt) in the relevant country, or that they are advertising on behalf of a legitimate provider.

Doherty said “this is a major breakthrough. Europe is saying clearly: if you knowingly host fraud, if you look the other way, you will be held to account. Citizens deserve better than a digital Wild West, and today’s agreement delivers exactly that. I look forward to the final details of the agreement, and then the vote in the European Parliament.”

The agreement will now be drafted into a legal text, before going to a final vote of the European Parliament and EU Member States.