The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has taken legal action against Meta, owner of Facebook, for allowing fraudulent advertisements to appear on its platforms and, according to it, for failing to take sufficient action to tackle the problem.
Australia’s consumer watchdog is taking Meta to court, alleging the company has ” helped and encouraged » fraudulent advertisements by celebrities on Facebook that have cost some Australians hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The ACCC highlighted in particular unapproved or unapproved “fraudulent” adverts featuring prominent Australian personalities such as entrepreneur Dick Smith, television host David Koch and former New South Wales Premier Mike Baird.
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Meta does not pay enough attention to the advertisements that are shared on its social networks
According to the Australian body, the advertisements in question featured celebrities, TV hosts and politicians who seemed promote cryptocurrency and other money-making systems. The ads contained links that took Facebook users to a fake news article, which included quotes attributed to the public figure featured in the ad.
The problem is that none of the people depicted had given permission, and the advertisements turned out to be scams. Internet users who have had the misfortune to fall into the trap have been contacted by scammers which, according to the ACCC, “ used significant pressure tactics, such as repeated phone calls, to convince users to deposit funds into the bogus systems “.
” We allege that Meta’s technology made it possible to target these advertisements to users most likely to be interested in them. said Rod Sims, President of the ACCC. However, Facebook had recently taken new measures against targeted advertising, in particular by prohibiting brands from offering it to minors. However, Facebook hasn’t always been so strict about serving adssince last year, we reported to you that Facebook allowed brands to illegally target children with advertisements for tobacco, alcohol or gambling.
