UK gambling regulator slams Meta over illegal ads

Meta has once again been accused of allowing advertisements for illegal online casinos. This time it is the UK Gambling Commission that is taking action.

The UK Gambling Commission has decided to go on the offensive against Meta. It is accusing the social platform of allowing advertising for illegal online casinos. These criticisms come from the highest levels of the regulatory authority.

According to the regulator, Meta contributes to illegal gambling activity

Tim Miller, executive director of the Gambling Commission, said in a speech at the ICE conference in Barcelona that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, continues to allow advertising for unlicensed gambling sites on its platforms. 

According to Miller, many of these ads target sites that explicitly position themselves outside the UK’s GamStop self-exclusion system. GamStop is a mechanism that helps players temporarily or permanently exclude themselves from online gambling.

Miller said that anyone who spends time on Meta’s platforms has probably seen such ads. He called Meta’s advertising library a ‘window into crime’, as it simply shows how many illegal casinos are advertising there and how easy it is to find these ads via simple search terms such as ‘not on GamStop’.

The tech giant would do too little about illegal advertising

The GC claims that Meta is not doing enough on its own to block these ads. Instead, Meta says it has a policy of removing illegal ads as soon as they are reported. 

Miller retorted that this response is insufficient and does not correspond to the reality on the platform. According to him, Meta has the technical capacity to proactively block this content.

He went on to use some harsh words: he said that to suggest that Meta only solves this problem when others report it is simply wrong. For Miller, it gives the impression that Meta is prepared to continue making money from advertisers promoting illegal gambling services, until someone complains loudly enough.

The regulator deliberately adopts a firmer tone

In recent months, the regulator has sent hundreds of warnings to illegal operators and reported thousands of harmful URLs to search engines for remorva or blocking. Miller stressed that these actions are important, but that they are not enough without the cooperation of platforms such as Meta.

A global problem

The problem of illegal advertising on Meta is not confined to the UK; other countries around the world have already complained and want Meta to take proactive measures.

In the Netherlands, a study commissioned by VNLOK showed that 95.5% of the ads visible on Facebook and Instagram redirected to illegal casinos.

In India, online gambling is totally banned. Yet advertising continues to flood Meta’s social networks.

Although strictly illegal under the laws of these countries, these ads have nevertheless been posted in countries such as Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

What is the situation in Belgium?

In Belgium, despite very strict rules on gambling advertising, ads for illegal gambling sites continue to circulate on Facebook and Instagram.

The Gaming Commission has already sounded the alarm nearly 8,000 times via a direct reporting channel set up with Meta, and the ads are often quickly withdrawn… only for them to reappear immediately under different names.

The problem, according to Alexander Van Hoecke MEP quoted in the article, is that Meta is content with a ‘reaction’ logic (delete when reported) without putting in place robust preventive barriers, such as compulsory verification of advertisers’ identities.

Reuters also speaks of a major economic challenge for Meta. High-risk” advertising is estimated to earn Meta 7 billion dollars a year, while strict controls would cost 2 billion. An imbalance that would explain the persistence of half-measures.