Chris Harris, PhD
1 min readJan 21, 2025

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Here's an interesting investigative deep-dive into the apparently thankless task of reporting fraudulent ads on Facebook in Aotearoa New Zealand.

https://thespinoff.co.nz/internet/18-01-2025/copy-of-a-soul-destroying-attempt-to-report-scam-facebook-ads

Scamming is a real big issue in Ao/NZ right now, both on bank platforms and on social media, where a lot of lower-income Kiwis also now get their news and commentary (we have a saying, these days, that the truth is paywalled but the lies are free).

The scams, which often cross over into politics, even include AI impersonation of the Prime Minister. You would think this would be jumped on from a great height; however, so far, the regulatory response seems to be as per the final scenes of Raiders of the Lost Ark, i.e., that the government has "top men" looking into this problem ... "top ... men:"

Of course, who are the regulators to go up against Facebook and the company formerly known as Twitter in little old Ao/NZ?

Brazil banned X for 40 days last year, but smaller countries seem more exposed to this sort of thing, unless they band together.

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Chris Harris, PhD
Chris Harris, PhD

Written by Chris Harris, PhD

I am an urban historian from Aotearoa New Zealand. With an engineering background, I also have a PhD in planning and economics.

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