Australia accuses Meta of deceiving users
Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook) intentionally deceived users and posted misleading ads urging users to buy cryptocurrency.
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the social media ads contained links to fake media articles and celebrity quotes, convincing users to provide personal information. After that, the scammers contacted the victims and persuaded them to transfer money to fake funds and invest in cryptocurrencies. The regulator believes Meta knew about the fraud schemes involving the ads but didn't try to fix the problem.
“The essence of our case is that Meta is responsible for these ads that it publishes on its platform,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said. “It is a key part of Meta’s business to enable advertisers to target users who are most likely to click on the link in an ad to visit the ad’s landing page, using Facebook algorithms. Those visits to landing pages from ads generate substantial revenue for Facebook.”
The ACCC appeal has been referred to the Federal Court of Australia. The date of the first hearing will be announced later.
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