Consumer associations, including the ULC, are suing Meta, TikTok and Google for not fighting sufficiently against the spread of false advertising.
Already on the grill in several countries for not protecting teenagers from certain content, Meta, TikTok and Google are now facing a complaint filed by thirty consumer associations. This time, they are accused of not having taken the necessary measures to combat the proliferation of fraudulent advertisements in the financial domain on their platforms. However, measures required by the European law on digital services (DSA).
This complaint is the result of a survey published this Thursday by the Bureau européen des unions de consommateurs (BEUC), of which the Union luxembourgeoise des consommateurs (ULC) is a party. Although she herself did not participate directly in this investigation, “she fully supports the conclusions drawn from it, having herself noted certain gaps in the framework of her own investigations”, she indicated in a press release.
Between December 2025 and March 2026, the BEUC and several consumer associations from 13 countries reported to the various platforms close to 900 advertisements suspected of violating European legislation. Or only 27% of these advertisements were deleted, while 52% of the reports were rejected or ignored.
“This means that hundreds of allegedly fraudulent financial advertisements are still active, affecting more than 200 million European consumers every month and risking new financial losses and other damages,” the ULC claims.
With this complaint, the consumer associations are calling on the European Commission and the national coordinators of digital services to investigate the measures taken by Meta, TikTok and Google to mitigate the systemic risks related to financial scams and to require them to comply with the DSA.
In case of persistent non-conformity, appropriate sanctions, including fines, are also claimed.
Source: Lequotidien
