Colombia seeks to block social media accounts promoting illegal gambling

Colombia’s gambling regulator, Coljuegos, has intensified its efforts to combat illegal gaming activities promoted through social media. It’s one of several countries to take this stance.

The organisation has requested assistance from Meta and the Cyber Center of the National Police to block 289 social media accounts, including high-profile social media personalities Daneidy Barrera Rojas, also known as “Epa Colombia,” Yeferson Cossio, and Carlos Mauricio Gómez, better known as “La Liendra.”

Combined, these personalities have amassed a following of over 23 million users across platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

According to Coljuegos director Marco Emilio Hincapié, the targeted accounts have been implicated in promoting unauthorised raffles, bingos, and betting sites.

“We have asked Meta to block these and other profiles that operate games of chance without state authorisation or promote foreign betting platforms that fail to pay exploitation fees in Colombia,” Hincapié explained.

Illegal gambling operations have significant economic repercussions in Colombia. Hincapié highlighted that the country loses approximately 70bn pesos annually in potential revenue, funds that could otherwise be allocated to public health initiatives.

Beyond economic losses, Coljuegos reported that it is pursuing 35 disciplinary proceedings against social media personalities and businesses allegedly involved in unauthorised gambling activities.

Additionally, investigations are ongoing into 79 more social media accounts, whose operators have not yet been identified.

Colombia part of international effort

Colombia is not alone in confronting the challenges posed by the intersection of social media and gambling.

Countries such as France, Italy, and Germany have also introduced regulatory frameworks to monitor the relationships between gambling companies and social media personalities.

In France, advertising for gambling is tightly controlled, and social media personalities are held accountable under stringent rules.

In 2023, after the country implemented new rules on social media promotions, several French social media personalities faced fines for promoting unlicensed gambling platforms.

Similarly, Italy banned all gambling-related advertising in 2019, a move that included restrictions on promotional content shared by social media personalities.

However, the prohibition hasn’t stopped social media personality-led gambling promotions. As recently as this month, various individuals were fined a combined €2m for violating the ban.

The Netherlands has had a similar ban in place since 2022. It extends to anyone who could be considered popular in the public eye, such as athletes, singers and others.

A similar ban can be found in the UK.

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