According to the Consumer Protection Commission, these ads featured famous people from politics and business. However, these people had never consented to such advertisements.
Australia on Friday announced the filing of a legal case against Facebook-owned Meta. The case is being filed for advertising scams related to cryptocurrency that falsely claimed to be involving celebrities. Australia’s Consumer Protection Commission said it has initiated proceedings in federal court against Meta Platforms for “false, deceptive or fraudulent conduct”. It said the company violated consumer or securities laws.
According to a news agency report , Meta has been accused of not doing enough to stop scam ads for cryptocurrencies. Earlier, some celebrities had also raised the issue of giving false information about them in the advertisements given on Facebook. However, Meta has issued a statement saying that it has tried to detect and block such ads using technology. “We don’t want ads that scam people on Facebook or give them false information. Such ads violate our policy and aren’t good for our community,” a Meta spokesperson said. META said it had cooperated with Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission investigation.
According to the Consumer Protection Commission, these ads featured famous people from politics and business. However, these people had never given consent to such advertisements. The head of the commission, Rod Sims, said, “It hurts people and also undermines the reputation of celebrities who are wrongly associated with these ads. Meta has failed to do enough to stop such ads. ”
The commission reported that it had received information about a customer who had been involved in such scams for 6,50,000 Australian dollars (approximately 36,595, 312) was incurred. The scam was advertised on Facebook. The commission said that it is awaiting the court’s decision in this matter. In some other countries, scams involving cryptocurrencies have also increased in recent months. In the US, the Justice Department has formed a separate unit to deal with such cases.
