Small business disputes with large tech platforms have jumped by 86 percent in the last year, according to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) Bruce Billson.
The worst offenders were the platforms owned by Meta—Facebook and Instagram—which accounted for 73 percent of all disputes in the last three months. Nearly two-thirds of those cases related to their accounts being hacked.
Rideshare app and service Uber made up 17 percent of incidents, with one in four disputes about drivers not being paid.
Billson said over the past two years, the number of small and family businesses that have suffered some disruption on a digital platform has more than doubled.
“Whether it is Facebook, Instagram, Uber, Amazon, eBay, Shopify, or any of the many other digital platform providers, small and family businesses are getting a raw deal when they need help,” he said in a statement.
“Digital platforms have fundamentally changed the way small businesses connect and sell to their customers. But when there is a problem, such as having your account shut down after being hacked, solving it can be a nightmare.”
Rather than resolve issues using their own resources, the large tech corporations place the onus on small businesses, which lack the time and resources needed to “navigate the most elaborate maze of dead-ends and blockages,” Billson said.
Often, people with a problem are told they need to log into their account to tell the platform they’re unable to do just that.
“To quote John McEnroe: ‘You can’t be serious!’” Billson said.
He called on digital platforms to do better.
“Small businesses tell us it can take many months to resolve a dispute and get back to business. Some have told us these delays have cost them many thousands of dollars. The common thread we see is small business owners and those who are self-employed devastated by the sudden, unexpected suspension of their account and then having no clear avenue to resolve the problem.
“Big Tech digital platform providers need to urgently lift their game and provide clear, appropriate and easily accessible help for small business—with a real person they can talk to.”
He said by the time small business owners approach his office they are “overwhelmed and stressed,” and often the dispute has compounded existing pressures from the economy like cost of living.
“Too often small businesses watch helplessly as the financial and emotional damage occurs in real time, with no ability to stop it. If a credit card linked to a business’s account is used by a hacker, or the hacker uses the account to access customer data, the targeted business loses customers and money.
“Having someone else access and control their account is devastating for their business and its reputation. Some never recover,” Billson said.
Prevention Tips
The Ombudsman has also produced a Guide to Using Social Media Securely, which includes tips for small and family businesses about how to reduce the risk of being hacked and steps to take if it occurs.“Treat your online business security like you would a shop, factory or your home,” Billson advised.
“You wouldn’t leave the doors open when there’s no one there. And you wouldn’t give a person you have just met the keys to your business or your house, so only give access to your business account to trusted individuals. And remember not all users require full admin access.
“We urge people to organise multifactor authentication, change their passwords frequently, have some other way of verifying their identity, back up their files regularly, activate software updates and consider using eInvoicing or PayID,” the Ombudsman said.
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Australians lost a reported $2.74 billion to online scams of all types in 2023.
Although overall losses declined by 13.1 percent, the number of victims increased by 18.5 percent to over 601,000 compared to 2022. There were increases in reports of financial losses to phishing scams, payment redirection scams, and job scams.
