The Thai Ministry of Digital Economy and Society has asked Facebook to remove crypto scams and ad fraud on its platform. If Facebook fails to comply, the Thai government said it would seek a court-approved shutdown of the social media platform.
Many online ads are shown to us because the information is suited to our needs. However, on some social media platforms, more often than not, the ads are neither randomly displayed nor coincidentally cater to our needs. They are shown to us due to artificial intelligence algorithms. Ad fraud is an example of this. Algorithms must be employed to fight against scams.
According to the US, the UK and Australia, ad fraud on social media has plagued many countries. In Europe and the US, these ads are crypto scams, whereas in Taiwan, they feature fake endorsements by celebrities due to the post-pandemic stock market boom. The names of Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河), chairman of the Chinese-language Wealth Invest Weekly and Wealth magazines, TV host Daisy Chiu (邱沁宜) and independent investor Lee Chin-tu (李金土) have all been appropriated by scammers to commit fraud.
To curb these schemes, the Executive Yuan amended the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Act (證券投資信託及顧問法) requiring a real-name registration system to regulate online investment ads. Social media platforms and Internet access service providers are also required to institute a mechanism through which ads can be examined beforehand and taken down afterward.
However, in practice, Internet platforms take a passive approach to complying with regulations, only removing fraudulent ads when they are notified by the police. As a result, the police have to work much harder to report online frauds. At the same time, scammers are constantly adjusting their tactics and developing new schemes to lure the public. They often utilize a hunger marketing strategy to attract and manipulate targets, demanding that they sign up as a VIP member within 24 hours. They also divide a long ad into 16 to 30 clips and display them extensively. The purpose is to entice as many people as possible to join their Line group, having them tempted little by little, and eventually swindling them.
Given that social media companies cannot regulate online scams and ad fraud in an effective way, the problem is left to the police to deal with. However, scammers have put up so many layers of smoke screen, it is hard for police to catch them. No wonder the Thai government took a harder approach and asked the court to shut down Facebook.
Adopting the four following measures could help get rid of investment fraud on social media platforms:
First, rather than simply waiting for a notification from the police, social media companies should take the initiative to uncover scams.
Second, on all social media platforms, sponsors and publishers of investment ads must be clearly identified and displayed.
Third, companies must cooperate with the police to track down those who post fraudulent investment ads.
Lastly, those who have been scammed and lost money should organize themselves and collectively claim compensation from the social media companies.
Transnational fraud rings have invested massively in spreading ad fraud. They have established various fake groups on social media platforms to influence people’s everyday lives. Fighting these scammers requires concrete strategies to regulate and govern social media.
Lin Shu-li is a doctoral student at Central Police University.
Translated by Emma Liu
China’s supreme objective in a war across the Taiwan Strait is to incorporate Taiwan as a province of the People’s Republic. It follows, therefore, that international recognition of Taiwan’s de jure independence is a consummation that China’s leaders devoutly wish to avoid. By the same token, an American strategy to deny China that objective would complicate Beijing’s calculus and deter large-scale hostilities. For decades, China has cautioned “independence means war.” The opposite is also true: “war means independence.” A comprehensive strategy of denial would guarantee an outcome of de jure independence for Taiwan in the event of Chinese invasion or
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) earlier this month said it is necessary for her to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and it would be a “huge boost” to the party’s local election results in November, but many KMT members have expressed different opinions, indicating a struggle between different groups in the party. Since Cheng was elected as party chairwoman in October last year, she has repeatedly expressed support for increased exchanges with China, saying that it would bring peace and prosperity to Taiwan, and that a meeting with Xi in Beijing takes priority over meeting
The political order of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) first took shape in 1988. Then-vice president Lee succeeded former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) after he passed, and served out the remainder of his term in office. In 1990, Lee was elected president by the National Assembly, and in 1996, he won Taiwan’s first direct presidential election. Those two, six and four-year terms were an era-defining 12-year presidential tenure. Throughout those years, Lee served as helmsman for Taiwan’s transition from martial law and authoritarianism to democracy. This period came to be known as the “quiet revolution,” leaving a legacy containing light
Gulf states did not ask the US to go to war with Iran, but many are now urging it not to stop short by leaving the Islamic Republic still able to threaten the Gulf’s oil lifeline and the economies that depend on it, three Gulf sources said. At the same time, these sources, and five Western and Arab diplomats said Washington was pressing Gulf states to join the US-Israeli war. According to three of them, US President Donald Trump wants to show regional backing for the campaign to bolster its international legitimacy as well as support at home. “There is a wide
RSS