LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is open to legislating to combat scam adverts online amid a surge in fraud attacks, financial services minister John Glen has told lawmakers.
Victims’ groups and campaigners have called for fraudulent adverts to be incorporated in the government’s planned Online Safety Bill, which currently only covers user-generated content.
“We are very sympathetic to that,” Glen told the Treasury Select Committee. “This is a massive problem. This is a significant opportunity in the absence of a better solution.”
Glen said the finance ministry was liasing with the digital, culture, media and sport ministry – which is also looking at the problem of online scams – to try and find the best solution.
“This is an absolute priority. I am not satisfied where we are on this,” Glen said.
(Reporting by Iain Withers, Editing by Huw Jones)
