Meta Partners With UK Banks To Fight Fraud Through Data Sharing Agreement

Meta, the company that uses Facebook, announced on Wednesday that it is working with two of the largest banks in the United Kingdom to create an information sharing agreement aimed at protecting consumers from fraud. The effort is an expansion of Meta’s Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange, or FIRE, which has allowed UK banks to share data directly with the social media company to improve the detection and removal of fake accounts and syndicated scams.

The new partnership will involve British lenders NatWest and Metro Bank, which are involved in piloting the technology’s first aircraft. Meta reported major success in the investigation, citing the removal of 20,000 accounts from a concert ticket scam network targeting users in the UK and US with the help of information provided by these banks. So far, the current partners are NatWest and Metro Bank, but Meta said there will be more partners in the future.

Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta’s global head of anti-fraud, said that cooperation between banks and technology platforms makes the difference in winning or losing against fraudsters. “We will only defeat these thieves if we cooperate and share information about scams,” he said. Meta’s head of counter-fraud said banks have unique data that Meta can draw on when developing its fraud detection systems.

This comes amid strong pressure for Meta from UK banks to do more to combat fraudsters exploiting its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Starling, the UK’s first digital bank and backed by Goldman Sachs, was among the first to boycott Meta earlier this year when it pulled its ads over fears the platform wasn’t doing enough to curb fraudulent fundraising.

Meta had its own policies to prohibit any form of promoting financial scams, including loan fraud and illegally funded investment schemes. However, all kinds of authorized push payment scams—where criminals are able to trick users into sending money—are still very common across its services. The new data sharing agreement is an important step forward in addressing such issues and ensuring the safety of users.