Facebook May Begin Banning Scam Advertisers

Facebook announced a new feature this week that could go a long way toward stopping scammers from fooling users with advertisements. This new tool will let users review businesses they have interacted with, and share the reviews with other users, too. Facebook wants to use this feedback to help businesses create better ads and weed out the scammers altogether.  

The tool, which is now globally available on Facebook, can be found on the site’s Ads Activity page. Facebook will also send you a notification to ask about your experience if you’ve clicked on an ad and bought something. If the company receives enough negative feedback and the business in question doesn’t respond, Facebook said it will begin limiting the business’ ads and may eventually ban it if no steps are taken.

Of course, while this is a good thing for Facebook users, the social media giant is also looking out for itself. If people get scammed on Facebook, they’re going to have a bad impression of Facebook, too — and the company doesn’t want that.

“Bad shopping experiences aren’t good for anyone,” Facebook wrote in a blog post announcing the feature. “And if these things happen after purchasing something from a business’ ad on Facebook, it can sour your overall impression of Facebook.”

“We have no tolerance,” Sarah Epps, Facebook’s director of product marketing, told Business Insider. “We put people first, and we do what we need to do to enforce against bad actors.”

Advertisements are just one way these shady marketers can take advantage of users, but every step Facebook can take to stop them is worth trying.