Israel Securities Authority Pressures Meta to Curb Online Financial Scams
The Israel Securities Authority is pressing Meta to enforce mandatory advertiser verification to combat a surge in AI-driven online financial scams, lagging behind stricter global regulations in the UK, Singapore, and Australia.
In November 2025, representatives of the Israel Securities Authority traveled to Singapore for a global gathering of financial regulators hosted by IOSCO to combat international online financial fraud. Described by officials as fighting the wind, the Israel Securities Authority faces a surge in sophisticated scams exploiting growing public interest in capital markets. Fraudsters, allegedly operating from China and Russia according to Stark Security research, leverage artificial intelligence to generate convincing deepfake videos, converse in fluent Hebrew, and deploy thousands of fake accounts at low costs.
Faced with cross-border challenges where cybercriminals operate beyond local jurisdiction, the Israel Securities Authority concluded that targeting individual scammers is ineffective. Instead, the agency pressed Meta Platforms to implement mandatory identity verification for all financial service advertisers in Israel to ensure legitimacy before appearing on social media platforms. However, progress remains sluggish amid legislative delays and coordination hurdles.
During a Knesset committee hearing last November, ISA Chairman Sefi Zinger reported difficulties in securing cooperation from Meta, noting the tech giant failed to respond to formal inquiries. Conversely, Yehuda Ben Yaakov, a policy manager at Meta, stated during the same session that the company was launching a localized advertiser verification pilot slated for completion in the first half of 2026. Despite these projections, October data indicates that thousands of fraudulent financial ads continue to proliferate across Israeli feeds.
International jurisdictions have adopted stringent regulatory frameworks to curb online financial scams. In September 2025, Singaporean police ordered Meta to deploy advanced anti-impersonation safeguards under threat of fines up to one million Singapore dollars, a mandate extended in January to cover broader public figures. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom enforced stricter financial advertising restrictions in 2022 following pressure from financial watchdogs, and Australia mandated advertiser identification disclosure. The ongoing standoff in Israel highlights the stark limitation of local regulators when confronting multinational tech conglomerates that disclaim liability for hosted content.
