European consumer groups filed formal complaints on Thursday against Google, Meta and TikTok for allegedly failing to protect users from financial scams on their platforms.
The complaints were submitted to the European Commission and national regulators under the Digital Services Act, which targets illegal and harmful online content.
Platforms accused of ignoring scam reports
The European Consumer Organisation, known as BEUC, filed the complaints alongside 29 member organisations operating across 27 European Union countries.
BEUC Director General Agustin Reyna said the three platforms not only fail to remove fraudulent ads proactively but also do little when notified about active scams.
Consumer groups reported nearly 900 ads suspected of breaching EU laws between December 2025 and March 2026, but platforms removed only 27 percent of those flagged ads.
A further 52 percent of submitted reports were either rejected or ignored entirely by the platforms during that same four-month reporting period, the groups said.
“Fraudsters will continue to reach millions of European consumers daily, leaving people at risk of losing hundreds to thousands of euros to fraud,” said Agustin Reyna, BEUC Director General.
Tech giants defend their scam-fighting efforts
Google rejected the complaints, saying it blocks over 99 percent of policy-violating ads before they are published, with teams constantly updating defences against scammers.
Meta also rejected the complaints and said it removed over 159 million scam ads in 2025, with 92 percent taken down before anyone reported them to the platform.
TikTok said it takes firm action against violations and described scams as an industry-wide challenge, noting that bad actors continuously adapt their tactics.
Consumer groups urged regulators to investigate whether the three companies comply with Digital Services Act rules and to impose fines for any confirmed breaches.
Under the Digital Services Act, fines for non-compliance can reach up to 6 percent of a company’s total global annual turnover, posing significant financial risk.
