A few weeks ago, Australia’s richest man, Andrew Forrest, was forced to file criminal charges against Meta for allowing crypto scam ads with his name and age.
Now, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has commenced legal action against the parent company of Facebook due to its inability to curb the spread of such posts on its site.
Australia goes after Meta for crypto scam ads
Facebook has become one of the most used platforms by crypto scammers to promote fake money-making schemes. Crypto scammers have proliferated these promotions using the image and name of famous people ranging from Elon Musk to Vitalik Buterin to even those who aren’t connected to crypto like Andrew Forrest.
The consumer protection watchdog stated that the ads could have misled Facebook users who believed they were promotions by famous Australians. These ads used names and images of politicians, tv personalities, business leaders, etc., and contained links to fake media articles.
It also alleges that Facebook “aided and abetted or was knowingly concerned in false or misleading conduct and representations by the advertisers.”
ACCC has since filed the action in a federal court and would most likely be using evidence that includes the ones filed by Andrew Forrest a few weeks ago. The mining magnate criticized Facebook for allowing scammers to use his name and image for fake ads.
Normally, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) handles this issue. But the ACCC is…
