{"id":12067,"date":"2026-01-22T12:44:59","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbceurasia.com\/en\/?p=12067"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:45:07","slug":"tim-miller-meta-fails-to-take-action-against-the-black-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbceurasia.com\/en\/2026\/01\/22\/tim-miller-meta-fails-to-take-action-against-the-black-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Miller: Meta Fails to Take Action Against the Black Market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Tim Miller,<\/strong> the UK\u2019s top man when it comes to regulating gambling, took a sharp stance against tech firm <strong>Meta<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Addressing an audience of gambling stakeholders at <strong>ICE Barcelona<\/strong>, the <strong>UK Gambling Commission\u2019s (UKGC) <\/strong>Executive Director chose a single question to be the basis for his whole speech. This question was \u201cwhose side are you on?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The extended version of this sounds more like \u2018whose side are you on in the fight against the black market\u2019, and Miller was clear that he thinks Meta \u2013 the owner of Facebook and Instagram \u2013 has blurred the lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Not Meta\u2019s first rodeo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is not the first time Meta has found itself on the opposite side of conversations about ethics and transparency, certainly not from a gambling perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July last year, campaigners from a UK-based NGO raised concerns about the tech platform\u2019s policies on flagging safer gambling messages as more risky than gambling adverts themselves \u2013 which, as a result, leads to gambling marketing enjoying more visibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Miller\u2019s speech took this argument one step further, focusing on the amount of black market advertising found on Meta\u2019s platforms, and particularly those tailored to promote \u201cnon-GamStop\u201d casinos \u2013 with GamStop being the UK\u2019s national self-exclusion registry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such adverts are easily trackable even by regular Meta users, Miller added, thanks to a publicly available marketing database that allows for direct searches through keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet, such ads keep appearing on two of the biggest social media platforms, which Miller criticised by saying: \u201cIf we can find them, then so can Meta: they simply choose not to look.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt could leave you with the impression that they are quite happy to turn a blind eye and continue taking money from criminals and scammers until someone shouts about it. So it does leave Meta with the question of \u2018Whose side are you on?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe consumers and users of your platforms, many of whom are seeking to escape gambling harm, or the criminals and con artists who are using your platforms to prey on vulnerable people right in front of your eyes and whose clutches you risk pushing those vulnerable people into?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2026 will be a year of action<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides this heavily charged criticism against Meta, the UKGC Director also hinted at tightening the scrutiny over licensed game suppliers whose products are also found on offshore websites \u2013 albeit this time around Miller was a bit softer in his critique, explaining that \u201cpulling the legal action lever\u201d will not always be practical or possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In conclusion, the speech ended on a positive note, reminding attendees of the \u00a326m (~$35m) in UKGC funding set aside by the last UK Budget to fuel the fight against the black market over the next three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, Miller also highlighted that the UKGC is expecting another major milestone this year, with the Crime and Policing Bill currently being reviewed in the House of Lords. If and when enacted, this law will give the UK regulator autonomous IP blocking powers, alleviating it from its current reliance on Google.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to subscribe to our <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/sbceurasia\">Telegram channel!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tim Miller, the UK\u2019s top man when it comes to regulating gambling, took a sharp stance against tech firm Meta. Addressing an audience of gambling stakeholders at ICE Barcelona, the UK Gambling Commission\u2019s (UKGC) Executive Director chose a single question to be the basis for his whole speech. This question was \u201cwhose side are you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":12068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1,25],"tags":[5890,1652,46,4198,2818,510,11189,1958,9044,116,3822,11372,208],"class_list":["post-12067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gambling","category-news","category-technologies","tag-black-market","tag-facebook","tag-gambling","tag-gambling-advertising","tag-gaming-industry","tag-google","tag-ice-barcelona","tag-instagram","tag-meta","tag-regulation","tag-safer-gambling","tag-tim-miller","tag-ukgc"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tim Miller: Meta Fails to Take Action Against the Black Market - SBC EURASIA EN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tim Miller, the UK\u2019s top man when it comes to regulating gambling, took a sharp stance against tech firm Meta.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sbceurasia.com\/en\/2026\/01\/22\/tim-miller-meta-fails-to-take-action-against-the-black-market\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tim Miller: Meta Fails to Take Action Against the Black Market - 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