Martin Lewis: "Dear Prime Minister, you said to Big Tech 'if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self-regulate' – yet you've done almost nothing to tackle scam ads?"
MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) and consumer group Which? have today (Tuesday 19 May) sent a joint letter to the Prime Minister highlighting the Government's repeated, ongoing, flaccid treatment of scam adverts.
MSE founder Martin Lewis and Which? chief executive Anabel Hoult have sent the joint letter to Keir Starmer to highlight missed opportunities in the Government's plan to tackle fraud.
In the letter, the pair deliver a damning verdict on the Government's recently published Fraud Strategy, contrasting its weak approach with the decisive action taken by ministers over deepfake sexual content on Grok (an AI chatbot integrated within social media platform X).
Which? and MSE are now calling on the Government to instruct Ofcom – the regulator responsible for enforcing the Online Safety Act – to speed up its work and start taking action against platforms that host scams as soon as possible.
Martin Lewis rails against Government's 'flaccid' action on scam adverts
On Thursday 20 May 2026, after the joint letter was sent, Martin appeared on ITV's Good Morning Britain (watch the full episode on ITVX) to call out the Government on its lack of action over scam ads. Here's what he had to say:
Read the full transcript
Martin: "What really got my goat on this, and one of the drivers behind this joint letter from Which? and MoneySavingExpert.com (so it's not just me, it's the two organisations have come together) is that when we had the terrible issues about AI undressing women without their permission, the Prime Minister said at the time: 'if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self-regulate'.
"Strong words, the right words. But I've been campaigning on scam adverts for 10 years. Big tech makes £4 billion a year in Europe alone from scam adverts, from promoting scam adverts.
"It is regularly destroying people's lives. Fraud is 45% of the crime in this country. So where is the 'if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self-regulate'? Where is that Prime Minister? This has been going on and on. I sued Facebook back in 2018 to start this. We managed to get scam adverts in the Online Safety Act in 2023.
"We were told the consultation over regulator [Ofcom's ability to] actually police them, even though we've got the legislation, would start in 2025. All we've had so far is... tumbleweed. We're being told it'll start later this year. That means it'll only come in place, if it happens – and it's Ofcom who puts that in place – at the end of 2027. This is flaccid.
"We are leaving people totally unprotected in the Wild West that is social media out there. Meanwhile, these big tech firms operate their frictionless advertising, frictionless i.e. unpoliced so they can bring money in. They're not doing know your customer checks, they're not doing pre-vetting of advertising, they're not taking things down quick enough.
"And our Government is allowing them to do so, and leaving people to be vulnerable to organised crime on the back of it.
"That's why I call it flaccid. That's why it's about time we stepped up on this. That's why Which? and MoneySavingExpert.com have together written a letter."
GMB host Susanna Reid: "Well, all power to you, Martin. We know that when you speak out, action is taken."
'We're concerned with the Government's lack of action to hold Big Tech accountable'
Here's a copy of Martin and Ms Hoult's letter to the Prime Minister in full, sent on Tuesday 19 May 2026:
To: Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP, Prime Minister
CC: Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State, DSIT
19 May 2026
Dear Prime Minister
Recently, you said the Government would take action against X if it did not address issues with its AI bot Grok, stating, "if you profit from harm and abuse, you lose the right to self-regulate".
This is the right attitude, but it is sadly woefully lacking when it comes to all victims of harm and online abuse. Which? and MoneySavingExpert (MSE) are writing to express our concerns with the Government's lack of action to hold Big Tech accountable for the fraud that takes place on its platforms.
This fraud doesn't just destroy people's financial lives, it can also destroy self-esteem and have huge impacts on mental health. It is easily one of the most common forms of 'harm and abuse' and needs addressing as a matter of urgency.
Fraud accounts for 45% of all UK crime, the majority of which occurs online. The landscape of these scams continues to degrade, with more invasive scams using increasingly developed technology.
We've seen an increase in AI deepfakes for both 'get rich quick' schemes and fake news articles using clickbait fake news headlines to draw people in. These often deliberately pervert the reputation of trusted names, including Martin Lewis (a signatory to this letter), Deborah Meaden, Richard Branson and others, to prey on consumers.
The stats speak for themselves. In the first half of 2025, 66% of authorised push payment (APP) fraud began on major online platforms, with AI now giving criminals the tools to execute high-value frauds on these sites at scale, driving a 55% increase in investment scams over the past year.
Major online platforms are not just hosting criminal activity, they are actively profiting from it. Latest reports show that platforms generate approximately £3.8 billion annually from scam ads targeting European users.
The firms will often try to suggest that there are technological difficulties in preventing fraud. That isn't true, it is a lack of incentive. They aim to operate frictionless advertising models, so anyone, without checks, can pay and get their ads published and put in front of millions of eyeballs. They aren't willing to add the friction that responsible advertising demands, never mind go through the rigid checks British old-media firms are forced to.
By neglecting their role in the fight against fraud, these companies are enabling unnecessary financial and emotional harm at a time when household budgets are being squeezed.
While we were pleased to see DSIT Secretary of State, Liz Kendall MP stress the importance of these firms using 'the tools readily available to them to make their platforms safer' in Parliament and the Fraud Minister's comments putting social media firms 'on notice' for bad practice, beyond the new data sharing initiative in the Fraud Strategy, we are concerned the Government is taking no meaningful action to deliver on this rhetoric.
By failing to hold Big Tech firms accountable through the Fraud Strategy and Online Safety Act (OSA), we're concerned the Government is giving these platforms free rein to continue profiting from the financial and emotional harm scams cause to millions of victims every year.
If the Government is serious about forcing these firms to improve the 'takedown' of fraudulent content, there are some clear steps it can take.
Platforms should be legally obligated to protect their users from scam advertising under the OSA, but implementation of the codes of practice for paid-for fraudulent advertising has been repeatedly delayed, leaving consumers unprotected until 2027 at the earliest – making it around a decade now that the public has had to suffer unpoliced social media scams.
The Government must instruct Ofcom to deliver these codes as soon as possible. Additionally, we would appreciate confirmation in your response to this letter of how you will be holding platforms to account until these protections take effect, and how you will ensure robust enforcement of these codes by Ofcom when they are finally in place.
Yours sincerely,
Anabel Hoult
Which? Chief Executive
Martin Lewis
Founder and Chair, MoneySavingExpert.com
Delays to scam codes of practice under the Online Safety Act
The Online Safety Act became law in October 2023, after years of campaigning by Martin, MSE, and many other consumer groups and charities.
Under particular rules Martin and MSE pushed for, the biggest social media companies and search engines will be forced to prevent scam ads from appearing on their platforms, or face penalties.
However, Ofcom announced a significant delay on the implementation of its codes of practice around this in October 2024. It is now expected to publish draft proposals for scam ad duties by this summer, with protections for consumers expected to come into force during 2027.
Martin's face has been plastered over the internet for many years now by unscrupulous fraudsters looking to scam people out of money. Our analysis of Action Fraud data in 2024 revealed that Martin, alongside Taylor Swift and Elon Musk, was the most featured public figure in reports to it. See our Martin Lewis scam adverts guide for more info on what to watch out for.
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