Meta is fighting online scams by tightening requirements for advertisers promoting financial products or services in Australia.
Scammers have used in Facebook ads the images of successful people, including billionaire Andrew (Twiggy) Forrest, journalist David Koch, Dick Smith, Gina Rinehart, Richard Wilkins, Karl Stefanovic, Maggie Beer, Sam Kerr and prime minister Anthony Albanese.
Will Easton, Meta's ANZ MD, said the company recognises the devastating impact finance and investment scams can have.
"The introduction of financial advertiser verification is an important additional step towards protecting people in Australia from these sophisticated scammers, who try to impersonate legitimate financial institutions and advertisers," he said.
"This initiative forms part of our broader efforts as a founding signatory of the Australian Online Scams Code and adds to the multiple measures we have in place to combat scammers across our platforms."
Before running financial services ads, advertisers will be required to verify their beneficiary and payer information, including a Australian Financial Services Licence number.
Once advertisers are verified, they will need to select the verified payer and beneficiary information to include on their ad during the ad creation process, which will automatically populate a 'Paid for By' disclaimer after the ad is approved.
When users see a verified financial service ad, it will be labeled with a Paid for By disclaimer that will contain verified information about the beneficiary and payer, as well as the licence number or exemption. Verified financial services ads can also be viewed on the Meta Ad Library while the ad is active.
A financial services ad is identified based on the focus on promoting financial products and services. It will include ads about insurance products, mortgages, loans (long and short-term), investment products and opportunities, credit cards, and credit applications.
These changes will start to roll out to advertisers over the next month, and once rolled out in February 2025, advertisers will be required to complete the verification process before publishing qualifying ads to audiences in Australia.
These new requirements are part of Meta's support for the voluntary Australian Online Scams Code introduced in July 2024 by the Digital Industry Group Inc (DIGI).
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