Social media firms should reimburse online purchase scam victims – Barclays
Tech companies should help to reimburse the victims of social media purchase scams, bosses at Barclays have said. It comes as data from the bank revealed a jump in the number of social media scams affecting British shoppers. Purchase scams, where people buy good which never arrive or are not as advertised, now account for two thirds of all reported scams, according to the research. Barclays said that 88% of these scams, which cause victims to lose £1,000 on average, start on social media platforms. The bank has called for more to be done in order to prevent these scams, demanding further action from social media companies and politicians. It has called for a victim reimbursement fund to be financed by all firms whose systems and platforms are used to perpetrate scams, including tech companies and banks, as part of four recommendations. Currently victims are only reimbursed by funding from banks, Barclays said. The banking giant also called for the creation of a cross-Government group within the Home Office to deal with the issue in order to coordinate regulators, policy makers, industry groups, and companies across different sectors. The prevention of scams should also be made mandatory, particularly for tech companies, in a shift from current voluntary measures, it added. Barclays also urged the Government to make organisations publish their scams data in order to inform consumers of the risks involved in using their platforms. Matt Hammerstein, chief executive officer of Barclays UK, said: “With so much of everyone’s lives now being online, from staying connected with friends and family, to shopping, it’s important that people feel safe on the platforms they use. “Our data shows that tech platforms, particularly social media, are now the source of almost all scams. “However, there is no current legislative or regulatory framework obliging the tech sector to support the prevention of these crimes, as there rightly is for banks. “We can only drive back this epidemic, and protect UK competitiveness, by stopping scams at their source, preventing the flow of funds to organised crime.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Hozier would consider striking over AI threat to music industry Snapchat experiences ‘temporary outage’ as My AI chatbot posts own Story Crime victims’ data revealed by two police forces in FoI responses
2023-08-21 07:19
Tesla Data Breach Blamed on ‘Insider Wrongdoing’ Impacted 75,000
Tesla Inc.’s May data breach impacted more than 75,000 people, included employee-related records and was a result of
2023-08-21 05:45
iPhone 15 could have faster charging
Apple's fall product launch next month is all but certain to include a new iPhone, and rumors say it could include faster charging.
2023-08-20 21:57
UK Is in Talks with Tech Giants on AI Chips, Telegraph Reports
UK government officials have held discussions with tech giants Nvidia Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Intel Corp.
2023-08-20 19:22
Adobe co-founder John Warnock dies at 82
(Reuters) -Photoshop maker Adobe's co-founder John Warnock died on Saturday aged 82, the company said in a statement early on
2023-08-20 17:49
Musk vows to remove blocking function from X/Twitter as new logo debuted
Elon Musk announced on Friday that X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, will dramatically limit the ability of users to block other accounts, a move that critics say will allow harassment to flourish on the platform. “Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature’, except for DMs [direct messages],” Mr Musk wrote in a post on X on Friday. “It makes no sense.” Critics quickly pounced on the move. “I thought the old Twitter was a pretty negative force for American society, I’m glad it was ‘disrupted’, but removing the ability to block will just encourage the kind of pile-ons that made it bad,” wrote journalist Nate Silver in an X post. Monica Lewinsky wrote a post of her own tagging Mr Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino, saying, “please rethink removing the block feature. as an anti-bullying activist (and target of harassment) i can assure you it’s a critical tool to keep people safe online. - that woman.” Even some X investors like Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao seemed sceptical. “X should really solve the bots & spam problems before removing blocks,” he wrote on X. “Just my 0.02.” As X users flagged in a community note, the removal of the blocking feature, which allows X users to block certain accounts from appearing in their feeds or being visible to others interacting with their content, could run afoul of the policies of the Apple and Google app stores. “It’s a downward spiral that cannot be good for the long term success of X,” Louis Jones of the Brand Safety Institute told CNBC. The potential change to the policy is the latest tweak Mr Musk has made to the service since taking it over last year. Earlier this week, users noticed the X logo had changed on Apple operating systems, appearing with a grunge-style effect over the company’s X symbol. “The cracks & scratches better represent this product that I love,” Mr Musk wrote of the new design. The concern over changing the block feature follows a report from The Washington Post that X has been throttling traffic to news sites and competitors. Read More Elon Musk says ability to block other X accounts may be removed in future Elon Musk’s X now sorts posts on accounts based on number of likes, not by chronology Elon Musk’s Twitter slows down access to rival websites X now sorts posts on accounts based on number of likes, not by chronology Musk’s Twitter takeover sparks mass exodus of climate experts Elon Musk’s Twitter slows down access to rival websites
2023-08-20 00:57
Schools are teaching ChatGPT, so students aren't left behind
When college administrator Lance Eaton created a working spreadsheet about the generative AI policies adopted by universities last spring, it was mostly filled with entries about how to ban tools like ChatGPT.
2023-08-19 20:45
Alibaba Unit to Hire 2,000 Graduates as Big Tech Crackdown Eases
Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce arm in China is hiring more than 2,000 graduates amid record youth unemployment and
2023-08-19 13:59
British Columbia Declares Fire Emergency With Thousands Evacuated
Record-breaking wildfires in Canada are heading toward key population centers in the country’s west, prompting the province of
2023-08-19 10:27
Palo Alto Networks Surges After Billings Outlook Beats Estimates
Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks Inc. surged after projecting stronger billings for the year than Wall Street anticipated,
2023-08-19 06:23
Bitcoin Nosedive Jolts Crypto Market Out of Its Summer Stupor
Bitcoin has had a sleepy summer. This week, it was shaken awake. For the past several months, the
2023-08-19 04:19
Thanks to a Privacy Breach, Facebook May Owe You Some Money—But You Have Just a Week Left to Collect
There's a week left to file a claim for your (small) share of a $725 million settlement.
2023-08-19 03:51