The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) and nine of its members have lodged a complaint with the European Commission and national consumer protection authorities against Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter for facilitating the misleading promotion of crypto-assets, the consumer associations announced on Thursday 8 June.
They accuse these social media companies of allowing misleading advertising to proliferate on their platforms (both through advertising and influencers) - an unfair commercial practice because, while promising to enrich, it exposes consumers to the risk of heavy financial losses, the NGOs point out.
In support of the complaint, a BEUC report illustrates these practices, which violate EU law protecting consumers and the advertising policies of the platforms themselves.
BEUC and nine of its members in eight countries (Denmark, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia) are calling on the European Commission and the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network to require social media platforms to: - have stricter advertising policies regarding advertising for crypto-currencies; - adopt measures to prevent influencers from misleading consumers about the nature of crypto-currencies; - inform the European Commission of the effectiveness of the measures put in place to protect consumers against these unfair practices.
See the BEUC report: https://aeur.eu/f/7cd (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)