The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has filed a lawsuit against Meta for publishing fake cryptocurrency announcements on behalf of famous personalities.
The ACCC alleges that Meta knowingly allows fraudulent ads to be posted on behalf of public figures and business people. Among them are the famous Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith (Dick Smith), TV presenter David Koch (David Koch), former politician Michael Baird (Michael Baird) and Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest (Andrew Forrest). Forrest had previously filed claims against Facebook in this regard, but they were rejected, as the user agreed to the terms of service, which exempt the social network from liability.
However, the ACCC believes that tech giant Meta is involved in illegal activities because it allows scammers to post advertisements about cryptocurrencies using the names of other people who do not actually approve or support these schemes. ACCC Chairman Rod Sims is confident that Meta should be held accountable for the ads it publishes on its platform. The company is obliged to prevent the publication of spam and remove misleading advertising of cryptocurrencies so that users do not become victims of fraudsters. In addition to the loss to users, such advertising damages the business reputation of public figures associated with it.
“In Meta, advertisers can target users who are most likely to click on a link in an ad to be taken to the ad’s landing page using Facebook’s algorithms. Ad landing page visits generate significant revenue for Facebook,” Sims said.
The advertisements contained links that took Facebook users to fake articles with quotes from public figures allegedly speaking out in support of cryptocurrencies. Users were prompted to register, and then scammers contacted them, convincing them to invest in cryptocurrency schemes. The ACCC claims that this violates the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Act.
Similar situations occur on the YouTube platform. In 2020, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse sued YouTube for posting fraudulent XRP giveaway videos on his behalf.
Source: Bits
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