40 State Bagin Asks Meta To Take Firm Action Against Account Theft

New York Attorney General Letitia James (photo: x @NewYorkStateAG)

JAKARTA - Fourteen states in the United States and Washington, DC asked Meta Platforms to take firm action against fraudsters who took over Facebook and Instagram accounts. This must be done to address the "dramatic" spike in account takeover cases.

In a letter to Meta's lawyers, the states led by New York Attorney General, Letitia James, said that fraudsters "are winning war and acting wildly on Meta," after the company announced in November 2022 thousands of jobs focused on security and privacy.

The countries have said that New York since 2019 has received a 1.000% increase in complaints about fraudsters accessing accounts and changing passwords, allowing them to read private messages and disguise themselves as actual users to cheat contacts and the public.

Four of those states - Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Vermont - reported an increase in complaints exceeding 250% in just the past year.

"Medsos is how millions of Americans connect," James said in a statement. "Having your social media account taken by a fraudster can feel like having someone enter your house and changing all the keys."

The countries are urging Meta to spend more money to prevent account takeover, including through increasing staff counts, and to work more closely with people whose accounts were hacked.

In an emailed statement, a Meta spokesperson said that the company based in Menlo Park, California invested "largely" in technology and staff to identify compromised accounts, and share tips with users and law enforcement to address the issue.

Those who signed the letter were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

In October, 41 states and Washington, DC sued Meta, claiming that the company designed its platform to create child addiction, damaging their mental health.