Advocacy Groups Urge Congress to Probe Tech Scam Facilitation

A coalition of three dozen advocacy groups, including the Consumer Federation of America and Color of Change, urged the U.S. Congress on September 30 to investigate technology companies for allegedly facilitating online scams. The groups called for new legislation to limit the ability of scammers to reach users, specifically naming Meta Platforms as a company that has benefited financially from the proliferation of fraudulent activity.

Data from a July report by the Consumer Federation of America indicates that Americans lose approximately US$148 billion annually to online scams, with cryptocurrency accounting for more than half of those losses. The coalition argues that families should not have to shoulder the burden of combating problems enabled by trillion-dollar companies.

While the Federal Trade Commission is currently considering rules to force platforms and search engines to crack down on impersonation scams, the advocacy groups maintain that a broader congressional probe and legislative action are necessary to hold tech platforms accountable.