Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 May 2026
185. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the action he is taking on foot of his Department's advice to introduce new regulations that would ensure social media companies vet who can post adverts promoting financial investment schemes on their platforms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39700/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy officials have been undertaking a number of actions aimed at reducing the incidence rate of payment fraud, this includes actions aimed towards preventing the use of social media platforms for the advertisement of illegal and fake financial services.
The Payment Services Regulation has recently reached political agreement in the EU and includes several fraud prevention measures such as spending limits, expanded transaction monitoring, fraud information sharing arrangements, anti-fraud education and awareness initiatives, and cross-sector cooperation and data sharing between PSPs, communication service providers, and hosting services for the purpose of detecting and preventing fraud.
Crucially, the agreement also includes a requirement for search engines and social media platforms to verify that persons advertising financial services on their platforms have the necessary regulatory authorisation to provide those financial services. This measure is based on a proposal brought forward by Ireland during legislative negotiations.
In addition to fraud prevention measures the Payment Services Regulation will expand Bank liability from only cases of unauthorised payment fraud, to also include cases of impersonation fraud where the victim is manipulated into authenticating a payment by a person impersonating their Bank.
The Central Bank of Ireland has informed me that they are already engaging on a bilateral basis with certain technology companies, looking for them to introduce financial services advertisements verification on a voluntary basis, in this jurisdiction. Google introduced advertisement verification in November 2024 which has provided some positive results in relation to the reduction in the volume of fraudulent advertisements on Google platforms.
This mechanism, if operating effectively, should protect consumers from the harm posed by scam advertisements as it prevents consumers being exposed to those advertisements in the first place. The Central Bank also seeks to disrupt frauds and scams by reporting suspect content to internet service providers, including under the Trusted Flagger regime provided for in the Digital Services Act.
In addition to action taken at the EU level, domestically the National Payments Strategy makes several recommendations related to payment fraud. One key outcome has been the establishment of the BPFI anti-fraud forum. The anti-fraud forum fosters cross-sectoral cooperation in fraud prevention between key players such as banks, social media platforms, telecommunications, and regulatory authorities.
