(Fraud Prevention and Control Act), also known as the 'Anti-Fraud Special Law,' came into effect on August 2 last year. After Meta violated the digital advertising real-name system and was fined 1 million this year, it is now involved in 23 regulation violations. Additionally, the Ministry of Digital Affairs revealed that senior executives from Meta's U.S. headquarters will visit Taiwan in July to discuss fraud-related issues. On the other hand, IG has recently faced complaints from many users about accounts being 'suddenly banned,' with many crypto influencers' accounts permanently banned by Meta on the grounds of 'fraudulent cryptocurrency content.' Currently, users have also formed a self-help group to assist each other, and the AI review mechanism has become the focus of criticism. Meanwhile, many users with engineering backgrounds have been analyzing the reasons behind account locks.
Cryptocurrency is viewed by Meta as fraudulent, leading to the banning of several crypto influencers' accounts.
It is understood that many crypto influencers' IG accounts have been blocked, suspected to be due to 'cryptocurrency content' being classified as 'fraudulent' according to IG's community guidelines, resulting in permanent bans. Victims in the crypto space include:
Brain Bro (@crypto_brain_bro)
Grenade (@grenade.tw)
Mok Mountain Cat (@crypto.moc)
DA Traders Alliance (@data_dacl)
Image source is from Grenade founder Laura Liu and DA Traders Alliance founder Zhou Zijun's Telegram screen.
Users who were banned by Meta have also formed a self-help group to discuss how to break the deadlock.
The advertising real-name system has not been implemented; Meta may face fines of tens of millions.
According to reports, Meta's Facebook platform was fined a total of 1 million on May 22 for violating the advertising real-name system under the (Anti-Fraud Special Law). At that time, the Ministry of Digital Affairs also sent a letter requesting Meta to make improvements within a deadline, or else they would be 'punished per instance.' According to the regulations, online platform operators that do not disclose advertising sources may face fines ranging from 200,000 to 5 million.
Subsequently, the Ministry of the Interior sent 23 violation cases related to Meta due to incomplete advertising information disclosure. The cases have now entered administrative procedures, and the penalty results will be announced by the end of this week. Meta may have to pay tens of millions in fines.
Meta executives will visit Taiwan in July to discuss fraud-related issues.
It is understood that there are rumors that senior executives from Meta's U.S. headquarters will visit Taiwan in July to meet with the Ministry of Digital Affairs and may also have the opportunity to meet with senior officials from departments related to fraud prevention to discuss fraud issues.
In response, an official from the Ministry of Digital Affairs confirmed the news and expressed pleasure that Meta is paying attention to fraud issues. They also emphasized the hope that Meta's senior executives can assist in improving the transparency of digital advertising, as controlling the source of fraud from the platform side is essential to effectively reduce the incidence of fraud cases in Taiwan.
The wave of erroneous bans on IG continues, with AI review mechanisms having issues; users of IG Follower also faced bans.
In addition to the anti-fraud controversy, Meta's social platform Instagram has recently been involved in a wave of complaints from numerous users. It is understood that over the past few weeks, users have complained about accounts being unjustly banned or locked, with most pointing fingers at IG's AI automatic review mechanism.
However, several users have reported that after downloading the third-party application 'IG Follower' to check if an ambiguous object visited, their accounts were 'permanently banned' shortly thereafter, with varying accounts of the situation.
Due to the rapid development of AI models, many tech companies rely on AI for content review. However, the frequent occurrence of large-scale account locks has led many to question whether the review mechanism itself has problems. Some users have even reported that complaints are essentially useless, like talking to air.
Users with engineering backgrounds analyze the reasons.
A user with an engineering background analyzed the reasons based on past experiences:
Some users have reported accounts en masse, leading to a wave of bans, indicating that the algorithms and reporting mechanisms may have been modified.
Currently, there are too many AI accounts, farm accounts, fake accounts, and sockpuppet accounts that resemble real people more and more, and they can achieve complete device isolation. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly difficult to catch fake accounts, prompting Meta to prefer to make numerous mistakes and directly 'permanently disable' accounts, rather than the previous simple 'SMS verification' method of 'temporary suspension.' If it is a 'real person,' they will find a way to appeal.
IP environment issues: Both FB and IG have so-called 'blacklisted' IPs. When a certain segment of IPs logs in accounts en masse, it is easy to be flagged for 'abnormal behavior.' However, Taiwanese IPs rotate, so you might be unlucky, and the IP assigned by your telecom network today is 'flagged,' leading to your account being locked.
Please avoid sensitive terms related to investment.
The author believes that based on the statements shared by users regarding 'fraudulent cryptocurrency content,' the following viewpoints are provided for reference, and the following preventive and response measures should be taken:
Avoid using high-risk keywords: such as investment returns, doubling, profits, free giveaways, and wallet addresses, which AI may classify as fraudulent inducements.
Add content disclaimers: Clearly state that it is not investment advice, only for information sharing.
Reduce the weight of inducement links: Avoid frequently guiding users to click on external links, especially short URLs or links to exchanges and wallet websites.
This article states that Meta considers cryptocurrency content as 'fraud,' leading to the ban of several crypto influencers' accounts, first appearing in Chain News ABMedia.
