The Australian consumer watchdog is suing Meta for allegedly displaying, or supporting scams ads with prominent Australian people in them.
Meta’s inaction regarding such scam ads is the core reason that triggered ACCC to file a lawsuit, which it accuses Meta is failing on its promises. Meta spokesperson responded saying they’ll study and defend the litigation, as they too want none to fall prey from scam ads.
Lawsuit Over Scam Ads in Facebook
Changing the name from Facebook to Meta didn’t help Zuckerberg’s company from lessening lawsuits, as the parent company is still being sued by worldwide regulators over several privacy and security concerns.
The latest one comes from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which says to have initiated a legal proceeding against Meta for allegedly supporting the false or misleading representations by the scam advertisers or, for ignoring such ads by not taking any action.
ACCC Chair Rod Sims said, “The essence of our case is that Meta is responsible for these ads that it publishes on its platform.” ACCC explained that there are several cryptocurrency scam ads displayed on Facebook, which are portrayed to be endorsed by celebrities.
And these are mostly from Australia! These include the images of TV presenter David Koch, businessman Dick Smith, and former New South Wales premier Mike Baird. Sims said Meta has failed to address the issue despite promising on preventing spam ads.
He even took the example of a victim who lost over AU$650,000 by falling prey to such scam ads. As they continue to press charges, Meta’s spokesperson said they’ll review and defend the lawsuit in a proper manner. Further;
“We don’t want ads seeking to scam people out of money or mislead people on Facebook — they violate our policies and are not good for our community.”
