Meta is facing a NT$1 million (US$33,256) fine for failing to disclose Facebook advertiser information, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday, marking the first time a business is facing penalties under amendments that came into effect last year.
The ministry in a statement said that the social media giant on two occasions breached rules requiring platforms to disclose ad content creators’ identities and sources of funding under the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act (詐欺犯罪危害防制條例).
Meta is to pay NT$500,000 for each offense, it said.
Photo: AFP
The company must rectify the offending ads or be charged with additional and repeated fines, the ministry said.
The ministry made the move after deliberation with the High Prosecutors’ Office, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior and Executive Yuan Anti-Fraud Command Center, it said.
The digital ministry had consulted Meta in the writing of the law and its related regulations, it added.
Although the company expressed a willingness to comply with the rules and would later report itself as complying, officials found clear evidence that the regulations were not followed in the two cases, the digital ministry said.
Meta issued a statement saying that the company “has a responsibility to prevent fraud on our platforms and takes that responsibility seriously.”
“We will continue to work with the government and law enforcement to fight cyberfraud across platforms and enterprises,” the statement said.
The fines came a day after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) slammed the digital ministry for its slow response to complaints about fraud.
Since the promulgation of separate anti-fraud acts in February, police received 15 complaints about Internet-based fraud and did not hand the cases to the digital ministry for investigation until last month, Hung said.
One month later, the digital ministry did not appear to have done anything about the complaints, he said.
“It is laudable that something is being done [about fraud], but 90 percent of Internet-based scam messages come from Facebook,” he said.
“Just how unequal is our relationship with Meta?” Hung asked.
Minister of Digital Affairs Huang Yen-nun (黃彥男) disputed Hung’s version of events, saying that police did not inform the ministry of the alleged fraud until May 1 and that officials immediately handled the cases.
Huang told lawmakers that the digital ministry was imposing fines on Meta for only two of the ads, not due to any leniency or special consideration, but Meta’s compliance with the law in other cases.
As Facebook removed the remaining offending ads within 24 hours of being alerted by the authorities as required by law, regulators had no cause to impose penalties over the other instances, he said.
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