Watch: Agius Saliba Calls for Tougher EU Action Against AI Scam Ads
PL deputy leader and MEP Alex Agius Saliba has urged the EU to take a tougher stance against social media platforms who generate money off scam ads.
Agius Saliba warned that AI-generated fraudulent social media ads are becoming an increasingly serious problem across Europe.
“It’s good to use AI to, for example, generate videos that pass on a message or show how Malta must have looked like 60 years ago,” he said.
“However, the same technology is also being used to create videos of personalities and politicians encouraging people to invest in a company intended to defraud them.”
In Malta, a 24-year-old Ukrainian woman was recently charged with scamming several people by using an edited video of Prime Minister Robert Abela to encourage them to invest their money into a fraudulent scheme.
One woman was allegedly defrauded of her entire life savings, amounting to over €53,000.
Agius Saliba referred to a recent Reuters report, which found that Meta could be making up to $14 billion a year from boosted scam posts.
“It is making a huge profit through these videos and it couldn’t care less about EU rules, because if it is found guilty of allowing illegal material to circulate on its platform, it would only be fined a maximum of $3.5 million.”
Agius Saliba said he intends to directly raise questions about scam ads with the European Commission at the next EP plenary session.
Cover photo: Alex Agius Saliba
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