Request for Cooperation to Combat Fraud and Scams on Facebook
Situation
As an official consumer protection organization under Thai law, the Thailand Consumers Council (TCC) seeks cooperation from Meta Platforms, Inc. to address the increasing cases of fraud and scams on Facebook, which have caused significant harm to Thai consumers over the past few years.
Between October 2022 and September 2024, the TCC received a substantial number of fraud complaints from consumers who actively use Facebook, a platform that is highly popular among Thais. The complaints encompass instances of counterfeit popular brands, advertisements for substandard products, scams, to name a few. that has resulted in users losing substantial sums of money. It is estimated that the total damage during this period exceeded 87 million baht (approximately 2.5 million USD). Further details are available in the attached documentation.
Operation
On Monday, November 25, 2024, the Thailand Consumers Council (TCC) sent a letter of recommendation via email to Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Platforms, Inc.
CC: Tilleke & Gibbins International Ltd.
Suggestions
Under the TCC umbrella, the Subcommittee on General Goods and Services has carefully examined the adverse impacts on Thai consumers and has developed four key recommendations for Meta Platforms, Inc. regarding policies that could significantly mitigate fraud and scams. These recommendations are based on the Consumer Protection Act, B.E. 2522 (1979), The Thailand’s Emergency Decree on Measures for the Prevention and Suppression of Technological Crimes B.E. 2566 (2023), The Computer-related Crime Act (No. 2) B.E. 2560 (2017), and the Gambling Act B.E. 2478 (1935). Here are as follows:
1. Urge Facebook or Meta Platform, Inc to implement policies prohibiting the sale or trade of all goods and services via Facebook Pages or organic posts. All transactions should be conducted exclusively through the e-marketplace with a 100% registered all the merchants on your digital platform.
2. Urge Facebook or Meta Platform, Inc to expedite the implementation of a complaint management with includes redress mechanism, surveillance system to monitor, screen, and block illegal accounts in Thailand, in compliance with The Consumer Protection Act, B.E. 2522 (1979), Thailand’s Emergency Decree on Measures for the Prevention and Suppression of Technological Crimes B.E. 2566 (2023), the Computer-related Crime Act (No. 2) B.E. 2560 (2017), and the Gambling Act B.E. 2478 (1935).
3. Urge Facebook to establish a legal entity in Thailand to ensure that the platform conducting business in Thailand adheres to consistent regulatory standards.
4. Urge Facebook to register under as the Personal Data Controller under Section 5 and comply with Section 37(5) of Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019).
Progress
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 The Tilleke & Gibbins Digital Solutions as outside counsel for Meta Platforms, Inc. (MPI) on a limited basis, specifically with respect to matters related to the Royal Decree and the Personal Data Protection Act, in accordance with the appointment and relevant laws. They has been asked by MPI to forward their response to our (TCC)request. some details as below;
– Facebook is a discovery platform that brings the world closer together. This means that our features are centered on how a user finds or discovers a product. However, Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta”) does not have transactions completed on our platform, and we are not involved in handling money. Transactions are not conducted on Meta’s Facebook pages, organic posts, or on Facebook Marketplace.
– Meta continues to support businesses of all sizes and from all sectors of the economy to help them connect with their customers and communities through digital and social commerce. The robust presence of Thai businesses and communities on our platforms are evidence of the connectedness of Thai people and we are privileged to host and help build their participation in the digital economy.
– Meta has made significant efforts over the years to keep people safe on the platforms, including investing over USD 20 billion in its team and technology since 2016. Meta adopts a multifaceted approach to protect people on its platforms from fraud, including devising policies and systems that prohibit this type of behavior across all of its platforms, developing and providing tools and features to help people report scams so they can better protect themselves, and raising awareness and working with government authorities and non-government stakeholders. As such, Meta has multiple teams to fight fraudulent activity, including security engineers who build authentication mechanisms, a threat detection team that tracks bad third parties, an integrity team that improves and leverages machine learning to detect abusive accounts and content, and a support team that helps resolve issues. To improve enforcement techniques, Meta also incorporates learnings from ever-changing fraud techniques, test and implement new approaches, and make iterative changes to its existing enforcement system. Meta also collaborates with law enforcement to eradicate fraud on its platforms.
The current landscape is driven by adversarial bad actors intent on deceiving people for financial gain. Bad actors continuously evolve their tactics– usually operating across multiple countries, moving from one platform to another, or offline where digital platforms have no visibility. This means that all parts of industry, government and civil society need to play their part to keep communities safe.
We have a range of efforts and initiatives already in place that address bad experiences on our platform. In particular, combatting scams requires a multi-faceted, whole-of-ecosystem approach. For this reason, we adopt a four-pronged approach: (1) policies that prohibit scams and related behaviour; (2) enforcement both on and off-platform; (3) tools to allow people to block and report scams, but also warn people about potentially suspicious activity; and (4) consumer education initiatives and partnerships.
– Meta try to stay one step ahead of these scammers but no system will ever be perfect and it is unfortunately likely that scams will continue to exist online. We know that the best way to achieve real progress is by working in collaboration with others. This is why we will continue to invest in this area and work with others to find collaborative solutions to stop scams.
