Meta sued by Australian regulator for fake ads

Australian competition watchdog ACCC has filed a complaint against Facebook’s parent company Meta. The company reportedly allows fake bitcoin ads that take advantage of the faces of famous Australians. In the Netherlands, many well-known Dutch people have taken a similar action against Google.

Rod Sims, head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), said false advertisements “not only cause countless losses to consumers, but also damage the reputation of public figures falsely associated with the advertisements”. Watchdog accuses Meta of “false, misleading and deceptive behavior” in violation of Australian consumer law.

The faces of famous Australians, including former Prime Minister Mike Baird and businessman Dick Smith, have been abused because of these practices. According to The Sims, Meta took “little action to take the ads offline”. Sims says there are stories of Australians who lost almost half a million euros to “outrageous fraud”.

The problem with fake ads is not limited to Australia. In the Netherlands, Jort Kelder, Alexander Klöpping, Arjen Lubach and Willem Middelkoop were in court earlier this month against Google after almost three years of legal battle. The company later admitted to posting several thousand misleading ads.

The men’s identities were used for fake ads that resembled editorial content. “The tragedy is this: It’s just a theft,” Kelder said. “Victims who click on fake ads end up in a boiler room with guys from all over the world convincing you to invest. They keep following people until their last money is taken from the unsuspecting investor.”

A spokesperson for Meta said in response to Australia’s complaint that the company found the ads unappealing and was trying to track and block them. Google also said it was trying to filter out fraudulent ads in the Dutch case. However, Kelder described the result of these efforts as “disappointing”.

Source: NU

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