The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms over allegations that it failed to prevent scammers from delivering promotions on its platform that were falsely endorsed by famous individuals from the country.
The ACCC has sued Meta, alleging that Facebook «aided and abetted or was knowingly concerned in false or misleading conduct and representations by the advertisers» promoting investment and cryptocurrency schemes, according to a statement.
«The essence of our case is that Meta is responsible for these ads that it publishes on its platform. It is alleged that Meta was aware [...] scam ads were being displayed on Facebook but did not take sufficient steps to address the issue,» said ACCC chair Rod Sims.
Aussie Celebrities
According to the ACC, the ads used images of famous Australians including business leaders, television hosts and politicians, with links to fake media articles that quote these personalities.
They include TV presenter David Koch, entrepreneur Dick Smith and iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest.
«We are aware of a consumer who lost more than A$650,000 ($480,000) due to one of these scams,» Sims added. «[T]his is disgraceful.»
Separately, Forrest has launched criminal proceedings against Facebook last month over scam ads, including ones that used his image to promote crypto schemes.
