The Australian competition watchdog filed a lawsuit against Meta for scam advertisements on the platforms. Here’s the full scoop on the matter.
Meta (Facebook) sued for scam advertisements
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) filed a lawsuit against Meta, the owner of Facebook on Friday. According to it, scam advertisements are endorsing investment in money-making schemes and cryptocurrencies. They are misleading Facebook users into believing that Australian celebrities are promoting them. It is also alleging Facebook “aided and abetted or was knowingly concerned in false or misleading conduct and representations by the advertisers”.
“The essence of our case is that Meta is responsible for these ads that it publishes on its platform,” stated Rod Sims. Sims is the Chairperson of ACCC. “It is alleged that Meta was aware … scam ads were being displayed on Facebook but did not take sufficient steps to address the issue,” he added. However, Meta is stating that ads targetted for scamming people out of money or misleading users are a violation of Meta’s policy. They also added that the company uses technology for identifying and blocking such users and posts. To date, the firm is cooperating with ACCC’s investigation on scam advertisements. “We will review the recent filing by the ACCC and intend to defend the proceedings,” affirmed a Meta spokesperson. However, the company did not comment on the issue since the matter is in court.
Scam schemes: Not the first time
According to the ACCC’s reports and investigation, the scam advertisements were using images of Australian business leaders, politicians, and TV hosts. The ads contained links to fake articles with the personality’s quotes. After signing up, scammers are contacting the users, convincing them to deposit funds for the schemes. “We are aware of a consumer who lost more than A$650,000 ($480,000) due to one of these scams … this is disgraceful,” explained Sims.
Last month, Andrew Forrest, the chairman of Fortescue Metal groups started a criminal proceeding against Facebook for scam ads. The ads were using his image for promoting crypto schemes. The ACCC is seeking financial penalties and has the temporary powers for filing lawsuits. However, usually the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is responsible for this
