he government has moved a step closer to include paid for advertising in draft rules to toughen social media regulation.

Yesterday (13 January) parliamentarians debated the Online Safety Bill Committee’s report from last December.

This suggested that paid-adverts be included in scope of the new legislation among a number of other proposals.

The financial services industry has also been campaigning for the government to include both user-generated scams appearing online and on social media in the bill.

It has also been lobbying for scams that appear through paid-for adverts online and on social media to be included too.

The government have yet to formally respond to this report, though several press reports claimed that they were close to agreeing it.

MPs repeated calls for the government to change course and include user-generated scams in the legislation.

Responding to yesterday’s demand, Chris Philp MP, who is minister for technology and the digital economy, says: “I am not going to be pre-announcing any firm commitments today because work is still ongoing, including the collective agreement process in government, but on fraud and paid-for advertising, we have heard the message of the joint committee, the Financial Conduct Authority, the financial services sector and campaigners.

“Also members of this House such as my hon. Friend the member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake). The right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms) raised this, as did the right hon. Member for Barking (Dame Margaret Hodge) and my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Nickie Aiken).

“I was at Revolut’s head office in Canary Wharf earlier today and it raised the issue as well. It is a message that the government have absolutely heard, and it is something that we very much hope we will be able to address when we bring the bill forward. I cannot make any specific commitments because the work is still ongoing, but that message is loudly heard.”

Commenting on the session, Quilter financial crime prevention expert Debbie Barton says: “After years of campaigning by us and many others, we are almost there. The government has heard the message loud and clear, and now we must wait to see if they will act on impersonation scams through concrete legislation.

“For far too long, scammers have been allowed to operate with impunity in an online world in which consumers have few protections. It is far too easy for scammers to steal the identity of a well-known celebrity, or impersonate the brand of a well-known financial services firm, host a website with a domain located outside the UK, and use a cheap advert to reach potentially thousands of unsuspecting individuals.

“The government wanted to just include user-generated scams, and not paid-for adverts, but this wouldn’t have been enough. In fact, it would have encouraged scammers to just pay for an advert to avoid the new legislation. It would be illogical for this to be the case, so we hope the government announce the legislation will cover scams from all sources.”