MARK ZUCKERBERG is under fresh scrutiny from US lawmakers after being accused of providing a “breeding ground for cryptocurrency fraud”.
The Silicon Valley entrepreneur has for years faced criticism from Washington DC over the management of his social media powerhouse.
Now, six senators demanded answers on how Meta deals with cryptocurrency scams.
The chairman and CEO of Meta has been asked to answer a series of questions on how his company is attempting to clamp down on the crime.
Senators Robert Menendez, Sherrod Brown, Elizabeth Warren, Dianne Feinstein, Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker warned that research from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found approximately half of the $1billion worth of crypto-related scams in 2021 originated from social media platforms.
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The FTC report found platforms owned by Meta were where the biggest number of scams took place.
Writing to Zuckerberg, the lawmakers said: “Nearly four out of every ten dollars reported lost to a fraud originating on social media was lost in crypto, far more than any other payment method.
“The top platforms identified in these reports were Instagram (32 per cent), Facebook (26 per cent), WhatsApp (nine per cent) and Telegram (seven per cent).
They added: “We are concerned that Meta provides a breeding ground for cryptocurrency fraud that causes significant harm to consumers.
“While crypto scams are prevalent across social media, several of Meta’s sites are particularly popular hunting grounds for scammers.”
The senators called on the entrepreneur to work closely with law enforcement to help stop the crypto fraud from taking place and to assist victims of such scams.
They asked him to provide detailed information about Meta’s current policies on cryptocurrency scams.
The group asked for answers to be sent by October 24.
A spokesman for the big tech company, Andy Stone, said that the social media firm invested “substantial resources to detect and prevent scams”.
The letter from the senators is just the latest in a number of requests for more information from lawmakers about Meta.
In 2018 Zuckerberg was forced to testify before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation over Facebook’s use of personal data.
In October 2020 he faced demands to appear before Congress to discuss censorship of political views on his platforms.
More recently, in the autumn of last year he came under fresh criticism after a Facebook whistleblower testified before a Senate committee claiming the company prioritised its own profits ahead of users’ health and safety.
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