Martin Lewis apologised for using bad language in the House of Commons today after he was grilled by MPs over new online safety measures.
The money-saving expert made some heated comments as he gave evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) sub-committee on Online Harms and Disinformation in Parliament on Tuesday morning.
He hit out at tech firms, accusing them of being “not interested in funding the victims of scams” despite being “culpable parties” in fraudulent adverts appearing online. He described tech giants as being “flaccid” and “pathetic” in tackling scam advertising.
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Mr Lewis also accused the government of “abrogating responsibility” in recent years because of delays in legislation to combat scam ads.
He told MPs that he had been “very disappointed” at the number of scam adverts that were still appearing on Facebook, despite reaching a legal settlement with the social media giant in 2019 which involved setting up a new scam ads prevention project - the Citizens Advice Scams Action scheme - and a scam reporting tool being installed on the site.
He was asked how the scheme has been going since the settlement was reached, and whether future funding was guaranteed. Mr Lewis answered "no" before putting his hands to face and checking that he could "say what I like" before continuing with his answer. He laughed, adding: "As I can't be sued I can be a bit straighter."
He told MPs he thought it was "a good settlement at the time" and said his plan was always to donate the money, which ended up being £3 million, to charity. But he added he is "very disappointed at how many scam ads still happen on Facebook". He said the Citizens Advice scheme was likely to "end up with no funding soon".
Mr Lewis said he had been to a meeting with tech companies in which they explained to him why it was so hard to get rid of scam ads. He said he stopped the meeting to tell them he was "not interested in technological b*****ks". After being pulled up on his language, Mr Lewis quickly apologised to MPs and changed his wording to "technological balderdash, baloney or any other b word".
Sharing a video clip of his appearance at the committee, Mr Lewis posted on Twitter: "Giving evidence to parliamentary committee today inc on scam ads – sorry for swearing." He then added: "PS for accuracies sake I don't think i actually said 'b*****ks' in the legal meeting, I was using it to express my feelings here."
The MoneySavingExpert.com founder also criticised the government on the scam adverts issue during his Commons appearance, saying delays to legislation meant more people were continuing to be victims of this type of fraud. “I think the government has abrogated responsibility over the last five to six years with this continued amount of scams,” he said.
He said the Online Safety Bill will not cover all scams but it is "far better" than before, but suggested that people will continue to get scammed in the years to come until it is implemented.
“The Facebook settlement was three years ago. The case started way before that. The scams had started way before that," he said. “I pulled my finger out and did it off my own back and this House and Parliament are still dilly-dallying over getting something that is transparently in the public interest – stopping scam adverts to vulnerable people.
“And it still hasn’t been done three years later, and it probably won’t be done for another two years, which is probably where the lack of trust might well come from and the frustration from the public.”
It comes as the government is under fire for dropping measures to ban “legal but harmful” web content, in what campaigners called a “watering down” of the Bill. Removing the restrictions marks a more “common-sense” approach as they risked an “erosion of free speech”, the culture secretary said.
Michelle Donelan also argued the axed measures had been an “anchor” stalling the Bill, which has been subject to repeated delays. The ditching of “legal but harmful” duties marks a win for free speech proponents including Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch, who claimed they would “legislate for hurt feelings”, but the move faces criticism from other corners of the Tory party.
Ms Donelan’s predecessor Nadine Dorries warned that women would “kick off” about dropping the measures. The former culture secretary, who championed the Bill in its previous form, cited the case of Molly Russell, 14, who killed herself after viewing self-harm content online.
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