![]() (FB) for evidence of anticompetitive practices. There are now 47 state attorneys general investigating Facebook (FB) and other tech companies face increased antitrust scrutiny. “We want to make sure that it’s really clear to people - that they have an understanding that these are unified products,” Liu said. The company said Tuesday that it is consolidating its payment processing for Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp into one brand called Facebook Pay.ĭeb Liu, Facebook’s VP of marketplace and commerce, told CNN Business that the singular brand should eventually help users understand why their shipping address or payment information shows up in Instagram, for example, if it wasn’t manually entered there, but was put into Facebook. Prosecution is only ever a last resort and the majority of first time offenders are not prosecuted if they buy a licence before their court date.Facebook is taking another step to tie its massive social media applications more closely together at a time when there are mounting calls for the company to be broken up. "We work with groups throughout the UK to raise awareness of these options. We will continue to keep up the pressure until they recognise that poverty is not a crime.”Ī TV Licensing spokesperson said: “We are doing all we can to support people and have various payment options to help spread the cost of a licence for those experiencing financial difficulty. “Despite our meetings with top execs, the BBC has so far refused to amend its prosecution policies at a time that millions are in financial dire straits. In the meantime, along with a quarter of a million other people, we have urged the BBC to suspend prosecutions of those in genuine hardship during the cost of living crisis. “That’s why we have long been calling on the Government to decriminalise the offence. “These prosecutions are the clearest example of the criminalisation of poverty that persists in this country. “The cherry on the cake is that most of this will happen under the guise of the opaque and secretive Single Justice Procedure automatic convictions, without any input from defendants in the vast majority of cases. “A staggering three-quarters of those prosecuted will be women and many will have vulnerabilities that have been neither identified nor taken into account. Tara Casey, women’s justice caseworker at Appeal, said: “As countless families across Britain experience food and energy poverty this year, the BBC is set to dish out tens of thousands of prosecutions for the non-payment of the TV licence fee. 'Poverty is not a crime'Īppeal, which is campaigning for a reform of the television licensing system, said it is wrong to criminalise people during the cost of living crisis. Recent data obtained by The Telegraph suggests that most people prosecuted for television licence evasion under the SJP failed to enter a plea.Ĭampaigners argue the system needs urgent reform to address the gender disparity in prosecutions, as well as the concern that the SJP fails to take account of those who are vulnerable. If they fail to respond to the letter telling them they have been charged, the court simply rubber-stamps the guilty verdict and issues a fine, which can be up to £1,000.Īnyone who fails to pay a court-imposed fine could be jailed. Single Justice ProcedureĪccording to the most recent data from the Ministry of Justice, there were 47,622 prosecutions and 44,106 convictions for failing to pay the television licence in the year ending June 2022.īut almost all of the cases are now dealt with under the controversial Single Justice Procedure (SJP), which means they are heard behind closed doors without the accused needing to enter a plea. ![]() ![]() Unlike the non-payment of utility bills and parking tickets, which are treated as civil matters, those who refuse to pay the television licence receive a criminal record and the details can show up on an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. ![]() Almost 1,000 people every week are prosecuted for failing to pay their television licence, making it the most common crime in the country outside motoring offences.Īround 70 per cent of those who receive fines are women, and licence fee evasion now accounts for around a fifth of all criminal prosecutions brought against women.Īnyone who watches television as it is being broadcast must have a valid licence for their home, regardless of whether they watch it on the internet or on a traditional television set. ![]()
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