Starling Bank has said it will no longer pay for advertising on Facebook or Instagram in an effort to protect its customers from scammers.
In a blog post, Starling’s chief executive Anne Boden justified the boycott by highlighting the lack of action Facebook’s parent, Meta, has taken against fraudulent advertising compared to fellow internet giant Google.
Since August, financial services advertisers have had to show Google they are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority or qualify for one of Google’s limited exemptions.
In December, Facebook’s parent Meta, Microsoft and Twitter said they would follow in Google’s footsteps after calls from MPs for these platforms to carry out more thorough checks.
Meta is yet to make any changes of its own, but FTAdviser understands the company expects to launch something similar to Google later this year.
“We are still waiting to find out when and how this initiative will happen,” said Boden. “In the meantime, we’ve stopped all paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram.”
She added: “We want to protect our customers and our brand integrity. We can no longer pay to advertise on a platform alongside scammers who are going after the savings of our customers and those of other banks.”
Meta responded by saying it was dedicating significant resources to tackling the issue of scams on and off its platforms.
In recent years, Meta has made some moves to tackle online scams despite criticism to the contrary.
It is now against…
