Ofcom Proposes Mandatory Anti-Scam Rules for YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Eight Other Major Platforms

What Ofcom Is Proposing

Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, published draft measures this week requiring big tech platforms to take concrete steps against scam advertising. The rules would apply to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Quora, Reddit, Roblox, Snapchat, TikTok, WhatsApp, X, and YouTube — all designated Category 1 platforms under the UK's Online Safety Act (OSA).

Ofcom is also monitoring Apple's iMessage, Meta's Messenger and Threads, and Wikipedia, though those services have not yet been placed in the highest-responsibility category.

The proposed obligations are specific. Platforms would be required to ban users who post scam content, block them from creating new accounts, and act against accounts impersonating real businesses. Categorised services must also have systems in place to prevent users from seeing fraudulent ads in the first place, and to remove reported content quickly.

The Numbers Behind It

Ofcom says more than half of UK adults have come across potentially fraudulent ads online. Over a third encounter them often. Those aren't fringe statistics — that's a majority of the country running into what the regulator calls content that "misleads or tricks viewers" into parting with money.

"For too long, victims have been exposed to scam ads online with tech giants simply not doing enough to combat the fraudsters using their platforms," said Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom's online safety director. "We expect firms to take robust action to stamp out scam ads and boot out the bad actors behind them to safeguard their users."

Companies that fail to comply once the rules take force could face fines of £18 million or 10% of global annual turnover, whichever is greater. For a company like Meta or Google, 10% of global turnover is an enormous number. This is not a regulatory slap on the wrist.

Recent Examples That Prompted Action

On July 10, the UK's Advertising Standards Authority warned that claims in ads for portable air conditioning units shown on Facebook and YouTube were "too good to be true."

In early June, a series of ads on X featured fake AI-generated images of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage apparently fighting Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey. The images were fabricated and ran as paid advertisements.

People lose real money to fraudulent ads, and platforms have financial incentives to run paid content first and ask questions later.

The Strongest Counterargument

The tech industry's legitimate pushback is that distinguishing a scam ad from a legitimate one at scale is genuinely hard. Fraudsters cycle through accounts, spoof business names, and exploit the same ad-buying infrastructure that real small businesses use. Requiring platforms to catch every scam before it runs — rather than responding quickly after it's reported — could impose compliance burdens that slow down legitimate advertising and push costs onto smaller advertisers who can't afford the delays. There is also a due-process question: banning someone from a platform and blocking new account creation is a significant penalty, and the appeals process matters.

Ofcom's framework does try to account for this, requiring platforms to minimize how long scam content stays up rather than demanding zero scam ads ever appear. That's a more workable standard than perfection. Whether the enforcement mechanism is calibrated correctly is a fair debate, and one that will likely surface during the consultation period.

Where This Stands

These are draft proposals, not yet law. The OSA framework that enables categorization of services has not been fully enforced. Ofcom has published its register of categorized services alongside the draft measures, which is a prerequisite for the rules having teeth. Griffiths has been direct that platforms shouldn't wait: "Platforms should not drag their heels — they can start making improvements for their users now."

The formal consultation process will determine whether the draft measures pass into enforceable law and in what form. Until that process concludes, the fines and mandatory compliance timelines remain proposals.