The news: 11 major tech and retailer players agreed to share intelligence about scammers with one another. The companies involved are Adobe, Amazon, Google, Levi’s Strauss & Co., LinkedIn, Match Group, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Pinterest, and Target.

The group—which notably excludes Apple—signed the “Industry Accord Against Online Scams & Fraud,” which sets expectations for how companies work across online services to counter scammers and seeks to set up a unified industry response to fraud and scams, per Axios.

Together, the companies plan to:

• Increase information sharing with industry peers and law enforcement.
• Add defensive tools—including ones powered by AI—to detect fraud more quickly.
• Introduce stronger verification requirements for on-platform transactions.
• Provide clear reporting channels for users who encounter scams.

Zooming out: Scams are prevalent on social and retail sites, posing risks to consumers and threatening user confidence in brands and companies that aren’t well-known.

• Over half (56%) of US consumers have been scammed while online shopping, and 77% have encountered an online scam or attempted scam, per Clutch.
• 61% think platforms—like social media owners and online marketplaces—are the most responsible for preventing ecommerce scams.

In addition to boosting platform trust and protecting users, the accord could help platform owners, search companies, and retail businesses prove to regulators that they’re making a solid attempt to stop fraud and scam ads.

Why it matters: When scams live on platforms where ads, listings, or branded content appear, consumers don’t neatly separate the bad actor from the environment.

• Trust falls apart at the platform level then spills over to advertisers operating within it, meaning marketers are judged by the company they keep.
• A coordinated industry response could help stabilize trust and reduce the likelihood that ads appear alongside—or are mistaken for—scams.

Implications for marketers: Because the agreement is voluntary and not inclusive of every public platform, diligent monitoring of where ads appear will remain critical.

Marketers should tighten controls and platform vetting to protect performance and brand equity, and keep an eye on how enforcement and verification standards change as the agreement takes shape.

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