Social media companies and search engines will be responsible for preventing paid-for scam adverts on their platforms under a new amendment to the draft Online Safety Bill.

Platforms which host user-generated content, video-sharing or live streaming will also have a duty of care to protect users from fraud.

Companies will be required to prevent paid-for scam adverts on their platforms.

They will be required to protect users whether or not the adverts are controlled by the platform or via an advertising intermediary.

This latest amendment to the Online Safety Bill follows pressure from financial services industry bodies who called for the Government to include paid-for adverts within the Bill.

PIMFA, the wealth management trade body, campaigned for the change alongside Which?, UK Finance, The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, and financial services firms.

Liz Field, chief executive of PIMFA, said: “In May, the Government conceded our point about user-generated content and included such content within the scope of the Online Safety Bill. Today, it has once again accepted our argument, and that of the Financial Conduct Authority, Financial Services Compensation Scheme, Bank of England, and the Treasury Select Committee among a host of MPs and others, that paid-for online adverts be included within the scope of the Bill.

“Of course, we will wait to see the detail in the Bill. But we are delighted to see the Government has seen sense and is willing to act to save thousands of people from the threat of fraud, which is after all, the widest reported crime in the UK today.” 

Debbie Barton, financial crime prevention expert at Quilter, was one of many campaigners also pushing for the change.

She said: “We are thrilled that after years of campaigning by us and many others, we finally have confirmation from the government that they will act on impersonation scams through concrete legislation to protect consumers.

“For far too long, scammers have been allowed to operate with impunity in an online world in which consumers have few protections. It is far too easy for scammers to steal the identity of a well-known celebrity, or impersonate the brand of a well-known financial services firm, host a website with a domain located outside the UK, and use a cheap advert to reach potentially thousands of unsuspecting individuals.

“The government wanted to just include user-generated scams, and not paid-for adverts, but this wouldn’t have been enough. In fact, it would have encouraged scammers to just pay for an advert to avoid the new legislation. Now, the legislation will cover scams from all sources. In doing so, the Bill will ensure that technology companies face a new legal duty to tackle harm caused as a result of fraudulent content on their platforms.”

Earlier this year research by consumer group Which? estimated that over 9 million people have been targeted by online scams.