New National Survey: Voters Overwhelmingly Support SCAM Act to Crack Down on Fraudulent Social Media Ads

Americans overwhelmingly support congressional efforts to crack down on fraudulent ads on social media platforms and hold online companies accountable for preventing scams, according to a new national survey of registered voters conducted by Fabrizio Ward on behalf of the American Bankers Association.

The Safeguarding Consumers from Advertising Misconduct Act (SCAM Act), introduced in both the House and Senate earlier this year, would require social media companies to take responsible steps to remove fraudulent advertising from their platforms, which would help stop countless scams before they start. The survey found broad support for the legislation, with Americans backing stronger protections against online financial fraud.

According to the survey, 87% of voters agree that online financial fraud is on the rise, while nearly three in four are concerned that they or a family member could become a victim of online financial fraud. Nine in 10 voters agree that social media companies should verify the identities of advertisers on their platforms to help prevent fraud.

"Americans are sending a powerful and unmistakable message: social media companies must do more to stop scammers from exploiting their platforms," said Rob Nichols, ABA president and CEO. "Consumers, families and businesses are paying the price when fraudulent ads are allowed to spread online. Voters overwhelmingly support common-sense measures like the SCAM Act that would require social media platforms to verify advertisers, remove scam ads quickly and take meaningful steps to prevent fraud before it occurs."

The survey found overwhelming support for key provisions of the SCAM Act, including:

• 96% support requiring social media platforms to take down fraudulent ads quickly once they are reported.
• 95% support requiring platforms to put systems in place to detect and prevent scams before they reach consumers.
• 94% support requiring platforms to verify advertisers are legitimate before allowing ads to run.
• 93% support holding platforms financially accountable if they profit from fraudulent ads and fail to act.
• 92% support allowing consumers and the government to penalize companies that permit fraud and scams to spread on their platforms.

Overall, 92% of voters support the proposed legislation after learning about its provisions. The survey also found that 75% of voters would be more likely to support a congressional candidate who backed the legislation, while only 5% would be less likely to do so.

When presented with competing arguments, voters sided overwhelmingly with supporters of the proposal by a margin of 82% to 8%, rejecting the argument that social media companies can voluntarily police fraudulent advertisers without government involvement.

The full results for these survey questions are as follows:

When asked "To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Online financial fraud is on the rise." consumers provided the following answers:

• Strongly agree - 63%
• Somewhat agree - 25%
• Somewhat disagree - 3%
• Strongly disagree - 2%
• Not sure - 7%

When asked "How concerned are you that you or a member of your family might become a victim of online financial fraud?" consumers provided the following answers:

• Very concerned - 30%
• Somewhat concerned - 42%
• Not too concerned - 19%
• Not at all concerned-7%
• Not sure - 2%

When asked "To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Social media companies should verify the identities of the people that advertise on their platforms to prevent potential fraud." consumers provided the following answers:

• Strongly agree - 71%
• Somewhat agree - 20%
• Somewhat disagree - 3%
• Strongly disagree - 3%
• Not sure - 4%

When asked "Congress is currently considering a law that cracks down on fraudulent ads on social media sites. Please indicate if you support or oppose each of the following aspects of the law: Requiring social media and online platforms to take down fraudulent ads quickly once they are reported." consumers provided the following answers:

• Strongly support - 87%
• Somewhat support - 9%
• Somewhat oppose - 1%
• Strongly oppose - 1%
• Not sure - 2%

When asked "Congress is currently considering a law that cracks down on fraudulent ads on social media sites. Please indicate if you support or oppose each of the following aspects of the law: Requiring social media and online platforms to put systems in place to detect and prevent scams before they reach consumers." consumers provided the following answers:

• Strongly support - 81%
• Somewhat support - 14%
• Somewhat oppose - 2%
• Strongly oppose - 1%
• Not sure - 3%

When asked "Congress is currently considering a law that cracks down on fraudulent ads on social media sites. Please indicate if you support or oppose each of the following aspects of the law: Requiring social media and online platforms to verify advertisers are legitimate before allowing ads to run." consumers provided the following answers:

• Strongly support - 79%
• Somewhat support - 14%
• Somewhat oppose - 2%
• Strongly oppose - 2%
• Not sure - 2%

When asked "Congress is currently considering a law that cracks down on fraudulent ads on social media sites. Please indicate if you support or oppose each of the following aspects of the law: Holding social media and online platforms financially accountable if they profit from fraudulent ads and fail to act." consumers provided the following answers:

• Strongly support - 81%
• Somewhat support - 12%
• Somewhat oppose - 2%
• Strongly oppose - 3%
• Not sure - 3%

When asked "Congress is currently considering a law that cracks down on fraudulent ads on social media sites. Please indicate if you support or oppose each of the following aspects of the law: Allowing the government and consumers to penalize companies that allow fraud and scams to spread on their platforms." consumers provided the following answers:

• Strongly support - 73%
• Somewhat support - 18%
• Somewhat oppose - 3%
• Strongly oppose - 3%
• Not sure - 3%

When asked "Having heard more about this proposal in Congress to crack down on fraudulent ads on social media sites, overall, do you support or oppose the bill?" consumers provided the following answers:

• Strongly support - 70%
• Somewhat support - 22%
• Somewhat oppose - 2%
• Strongly oppose - 1%
• Not sure - 5%

When asked "If a Member of Congress or a candidate for Congress supported this legislation to crack down on fraudulent ads on social media, would that make you more likely or less likely to vote for them?" consumers provided the following answers:

• Much more likely - 29%
• Somewhat more likely - 47%
• Somewhat less likely - 3%
• Much less likely - 2%
• No impact - 16%
• Not sure - 4%

When asked: "Consider the two different views of this proposal.
Supporters of the proposal argue that social media companies have failed to act and government enforcement and the right to hold these companies accountable is the only way to stop the scam ads these companies are profiting from.

Opponents of the proposal, like social media companies, argue that they can voluntarily police the advertisers on their websites and do not need the government to get involved.

Which of these do you agree with more, the opponents or supporters of the proposed law?" consumers provided the following answers:

• Supporters - 82%
• Opponents - 8%
• Not Sure - 10%

About the Survey
Fabrizio Ward conducted the survey August 20-23, 2026, among 1,000 registered voters nationwide on behalf of the American Bankers Association. Interviews were conducted via cell phone (40%), landline (15%) and SMS-to-Web (45%). The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

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About the American Bankers Association

The American Bankers Association is the voice of the nation's $26.5 trillion banking industry, which is composed of small, regional and large banks that together employ over 2 million people, safeguard $20.7 trillion in deposits and extend $13.9 trillion in loans.