Google, Meta, TikTok face EU consumer complaints about handling of financial scams

Published 21 May, 2026 03:41pm 2 min read
The Google logo is seen outside the company's offices in London, Britain. -- Reuters
The Google logo is seen outside the company's offices in London, Britain. -- Reuters

Alphabet’s Google, Meta Platforms and TikTok were hit with complaints from EU consumer groups on ​Thursday for allegedly failing to protect users from financial scams ‌on their platforms.

The move highlights growing pressure worldwide on Big Tech to do more to address the negative impacts of social media, particularly for ​children and vulnerable users.

The complaints, filed by the European ​Consumer Organisation (BEUC) and 29 of its members in 27 ⁠European countries, were submitted to the European Commission and national ​regulators under the Digital Services Act, which requires large online platforms ​to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content.

“Meta, TikTok and Google not only fail to pro-actively remove fraudulent ads but also do little when ​being notified about such scams,” BEUC Director General Agustín Reyna ​said in a statement.

“If they fail to address the financial scams circulating on ‌their ⁠platforms, fraudsters will continue to reach millions of European consumers daily, leaving people at risk of losing hundreds to thousands of euros to fraud,” he said.

There was no immediate response from the ​companies to an ​email request for ⁠comment.

The consumer groups said they reported nearly 900 ads suspected of breaching EU laws between December ​last year and March this year but the ​platforms ⁠only took down 27% of the ads and 52% of the reports were rejected or ignored.

The groups urged regulators to investigate whether ⁠the companies ​were complying with the rules and ​to impose fines for breaches.

DSA fines can reach as much as 6% of a ​company’s global annual turnover.

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