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
On Sept. 3 in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rolled out a parade of new weapons in PLA service that threaten Taiwan — some of that Taiwan is addressing with added and new military investments and some of which it cannot, having to rely on the initiative of allies like the United States. The CCP’s goal of replacing US leadership on the global stage was advanced by the military parade, but also by China hosting in Tianjin an August 31-Sept. 1 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which since 2001 has specialized
In an article published by the Harvard Kennedy School, renowned historian of modern China Rana Mitter used a structured question-and-answer format to deepen the understanding of the relationship between Taiwan and China. Mitter highlights the differences between the repressive and authoritarian People’s Republic of China and the vibrant democracy that exists in Taiwan, saying that Taiwan and China “have had an interconnected relationship that has been both close and contentious at times.” However, his description of the history — before and after 1945 — contains significant flaws. First, he writes that “Taiwan was always broadly regarded by the imperial dynasties of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will stop at nothing to weaken Taiwan’s sovereignty, going as far as to create complete falsehoods. That the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never ruled Taiwan is an objective fact. To refute this, Beijing has tried to assert “jurisdiction” over Taiwan, pointing to its military exercises around the nation as “proof.” That is an outright lie: If the PRC had jurisdiction over Taiwan, it could simply have issued decrees. Instead, it needs to perform a show of force around the nation to demonstrate its fantasy. Its actions prove the exact opposite of its assertions. A
A large part of the discourse about Taiwan as a sovereign, independent nation has centered on conventions of international law and international agreements between outside powers — such as between the US, UK, Russia, the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan at the end of World War II, and between the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since recognition of the PRC as the sole representative of China at the UN. Internationally, the narrative on the PRC and Taiwan has changed considerably since the days of the first term of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic
RSS