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Brussels, Belgium – Consumer organizations in the European Union have filed formal complaints against Google, Meta, and TikTok, arguing that scam advertisements continue to run on their platforms despite legal obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The complaints focus on how these very large online platforms, each with more than 45 million monthly EU users, allow advertisers to upload, target, and pay for campaigns at high speed, often reaching millions of people before any meaningful human review takes place. Consumer advocates say this self-serve advertising model prioritizes rapid delivery and revenue over careful checks on whether an ad is deceptive, leaving gaps that scammers repeatedly exploit. Brussels, Belgium – The European consumer group BEUC reports that nearly 900 suspected illegal financial ads were flagged between December 2025 and March 2026, but only about 27% were removed, raising questions about how effectively the DSA’s stricter rules on ad oversight are being enforced. Examples cited include fake investment promotions featuring doctored images of celebrities, fraudulent crypto offerings, and other financial scams that target people’s savings and retirement funds. Campaigners say these scams translate into stolen savings and long-term financial harm for ordinary users, and they argue that regulators should scrutinize whether platforms remove repeat scam advertisers themselves, rather than just taking down individual ads after the damage has begun.

Prepared by Emily Rhodes and reviewed by editorial team.