Goldman Sachs-backed digital bank boycotts Facebook over fraudulent ads

British digital bank Starling says it is boycotting Facebook parent company Meta over its failure to crack down on financial advertising scams.

Ann Boden, CEO and founder of Starling, said her company would no longer pay for ads on Facebook and Instagram when scammers targeted its customers. Boden has urged the UK government to tackle financial fraud in the Internet Security Bill, a sweeping body of legislation aimed at tackling the spread of malicious content on digital platforms.

The Internet security bill will impose a task on tech giants such as Meta and Google, requiring them to take action against harmful and illegal material. Companies that do not do so will risk sanctions of 18 18 million ($ 24 million) or 10% of their annual global revenue, which is of course much higher.

Last month, a parliamentary committee that considered the bill suggested that the new legislation should cover fraudulent advertising. The UK Financial Conduct Authority has sounded the alarm in the past about ads that promote investment fraud. These include cryptocurrency scammers who use celebrity images to deceive consumers, for example.

In August, Google stopped accepting ads for financial services unless the advertiser had been authorized by the UK Financial Conduct Authority or was eligible for certain exemptions. Meta pledged in December to tighten its financial advertising policies, but the company has not yet implemented these changes. Meta says it expects to do so later this year.

In an annual letter released Thursday, Boden said: “We want to protect our customers and the integrity of our brand. And we can no longer pay to advertise on a platform next to scammers chasing the savings of our customers and others. banks “.

Boden also aimed to rename Facebook to Meta and its axis to the so-called “transverse”, a common virtual reality in which users can interact with each other.

“When I read that Facebook’s next big project, Metaverse, is predicted to be the main driver of financial and DeFi (Decentralized Finance) growth in the 2020s and beyond, I know this is likely to be both right and wrong. “, he said, citing a bank’s attempt to give its customers advice on the much-hyped Second Life.

Second Life, which was not entirely successful, is now considered by some to be the forerunner of Metaverse.

“While Facebook (Meta) may have all kinds of promises for the future, I really hope its focus on Metaverse does not distract us from doing what is right today, here and now in the UK in 2022,” he added. Boden.

Founded in 2014, Starling has become one of the UK’s largest digital banking brands, with a customer base of 2.7 million. With 475,000 business accounts, the company also controls 7% of the UK’s corporate banking market.

The bank has Goldman Sachs, Qatar Investment Authority and Fidelity as investors, and was recently valued at $ 1.5 billion. Its competitors include companies such as Revolut and Monzo, which were recently valued at $ 33 billion and $ 4.5 billion, respectively.

Boden’s attempt to pressure Meta to take action against cybercrime follows massive boycotts by big names, who temporarily stopped advertising on Facebook in 2020 because it did not do enough to censor hate speech.