Meta and UK Banks Form ‘Information-Sharing Partnership’ – Should Customers Be Worried?

Key Takeaways

• Meta is expanding an information-sharing program with banks in the U.K.
• Currently, NatWest and Metro Bank are signed up to the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE).
• The platform lets Meta and participant banks share information about fraud.

Meta has partnered with two U.K. banks, NatWest and Metro, to launch the Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE), an “information sharing partnership” to combat online scams. 

While the collaboration aims to protect consumers, it nonetheless raises privacy concerns around data sharing.

Meta Partners With Banks To Fight Fraud

FIRE is a threat intelligence-sharing platform allowing banks to exchange information with Meta to identify and prevent online scams. 

According to Stop Scams UK, an anti-fraud organization helping to organize the initiative, a six-month pilot led to the removal of 20,000 social media accounts used by fraudsters.

Key successes from the pilot include identifying and taking down a concert ticket scam network targeting people in the U.S. and the U.K.

“We believe FIRE could become a game-changer for reporting fraudulent content, helping protect consumers and ensuring both banks and Meta gain better visibility of the abuse carried out on their systems by scammers,” Stop Scams UK CEO Mark Tierney said .

Privacy Implications

While the partnership targets scammers, customers may worry about the scope of data shared between banks and Meta. 

Banks in the U.K. can’t share customers’ transaction data or personal information without their permission unless a crime is suspected. 

Instead, the new platform is focused on sharing details of scams identified on Meta’s platfroms so that banks can act to prevent fraud.

Should Customers Be Concerned?

Everyday social media users are unlikely to get caught up in the new fraud detection platform. 

Meta’s privacy policy and local data protection rules still apply to any posts, comments, or messages that might involve potential interactions with fraudsters.

Meta’s Global Head of Counter-Fraud Nathaniel Gleicher, said that FIRE only shares “relevant information related to scams.” However, he did not expand on what that might entail.