Facebook and Instagram launch technology to crack down on celebrity scam adverts

22 October 2024, 14:23

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta is set to introduce facial recognition technology in a bid to crack down on celebrity scam adverts.

The adverts typically promote investment schemes and crypto-currencies with Elon Musk and money saving expert Martin Lewis among those to have been used as the face of them.

Meta will use the technology to compare images flagged as dubious with profile pictures of the celebrities in question.

David Agranovich, director of global threat disruption at Meta, said on Monday the new technology will speed up the process of detecting scams.

He said: “This process is done in real time and is faster and much more accurate than manual human reviews, so it allows us to apply our enforcement policies more quickly and to protect people on our apps from scams and celebrities.”

Mr Lewis previously told the BBC he receives “countless” reports of his name and face being used in such scams every day, that have left him feeling “sick”.

Meta has already implemented a system which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect the scams but is looking to improve it with facial recognition technology.

The advert in question will be automatically deleted if the flagged image and celebrity profile picture are confirmed to be a match.

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Early testing of the new technology has reportedly shown “promising results” with Meta saying they will now show in-app notifications to more public figures who had been impacted.

Celebrity scams have been an ongoing issue for Meta, with Mr Lewis taking legal action against Facebook in the 2010s before dropping the case when a button to report scam adverts was introduced.

However, the scams have since become more realistic after becoming increasingly powered by so-called deepfake technology.

Meta has consequently come under pressure to respond while Mr Lewis urged the government to give the UK regulator, Ofcom, more powers to tackle scam adverts.

This came after a fake interview with Chancellor Rachel Reeves was used to trick people into giving away their bank details.

Meta have said: “Scammers are relentless and continuously evolve their tactics to try to evade detection.

“We hope that by sharing our approach, we can help inform our industry’s defences against online scammers.”