Don't Let Consumer Losses Become Social Media Profits
The Issue
Social media has given small businesses an extraordinary opportunity to reach customers, take orders and build successful brands. But there is a gap when a business takes payments from customers, fails to fulfil those orders, and then potentially continues to earn money from social-media content generated by the resulting controversy.
This petition was prompted by the recent situation involving Terry Bakes, an online bakery business which built a substantial following through social media.
Customers have publicly reported waiting months for paid orders. On 8 August 2026, Terry Bakes then publicly announced that outstanding backlogged orders would not be fulfilled and instructed affected customers to seek chargebacks through their banks.
Of particular concern is that the business had reopened its website for new orders on 18 July, despite an already substantial backlog. Those new payments were therefore accepted only around three weeks before the announcement that outstanding orders would no longer be fulfilled.
Following that announcement, social-media content about the situation has continued to be published. Some videos are over a minute long and generate substantial engagement. Where such content qualifies for platform monetisation, this creates an uncomfortable situation: customers may still be trying to recover money for goods they never received while content concerning that very situation may potentially generate revenue.
This petition is not asking social-media companies to determine whether somebody has committed a criminal offence, nor does it presume the outcome of any investigation. It is asking platforms to take greater responsibility for how their monetisation systems operate when serious and evidenced consumer issues arise.
We are asking TikTok, Meta and other social-media platforms to introduce or strengthen procedures allowing monetisation to be reviewed where a business publicly acknowledges that paid customer orders will not be fulfilled.
Where appropriate, platforms should be able to temporarily suspend monetisation while credible consumer concerns are reviewed, particularly where the creator's content directly discusses or profits from engagement surrounding those unresolved transactions.
Consumers should not potentially become both the people who lose their money and the subject matter from which further money is made.
Social-media platforms have created powerful monetisation systems. With that power should come safeguards ensuring those systems cannot inadvertently reward serious failures to consumers.
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The Issue
Social media has given small businesses an extraordinary opportunity to reach customers, take orders and build successful brands. But there is a gap when a business takes payments from customers, fails to fulfil those orders, and then potentially continues to earn money from social-media content generated by the resulting controversy.
This petition was prompted by the recent situation involving Terry Bakes, an online bakery business which built a substantial following through social media.
Customers have publicly reported waiting months for paid orders. On 8 August 2026, Terry Bakes then publicly announced that outstanding backlogged orders would not be fulfilled and instructed affected customers to seek chargebacks through their banks.
Of particular concern is that the business had reopened its website for new orders on 18 July, despite an already substantial backlog. Those new payments were therefore accepted only around three weeks before the announcement that outstanding orders would no longer be fulfilled.
Following that announcement, social-media content about the situation has continued to be published. Some videos are over a minute long and generate substantial engagement. Where such content qualifies for platform monetisation, this creates an uncomfortable situation: customers may still be trying to recover money for goods they never received while content concerning that very situation may potentially generate revenue.
This petition is not asking social-media companies to determine whether somebody has committed a criminal offence, nor does it presume the outcome of any investigation. It is asking platforms to take greater responsibility for how their monetisation systems operate when serious and evidenced consumer issues arise.
We are asking TikTok, Meta and other social-media platforms to introduce or strengthen procedures allowing monetisation to be reviewed where a business publicly acknowledges that paid customer orders will not be fulfilled.
Where appropriate, platforms should be able to temporarily suspend monetisation while credible consumer concerns are reviewed, particularly where the creator's content directly discusses or profits from engagement surrounding those unresolved transactions.
Consumers should not potentially become both the people who lose their money and the subject matter from which further money is made.
Social-media platforms have created powerful monetisation systems. With that power should come safeguards ensuring those systems cannot inadvertently reward serious failures to consumers.
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Petition created on 10 August 2026