Australian Regulator Drags Meta to Court Over Fake Crypto Ads

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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is suing Meta, formerly known as Facebook for promoting what it called fake crypto ads. The regulator alleges that the company engaged in “false, misleading or deceptive conduct” by publishing scam celebrity crypto ads.

The “scam” ads featured Australian public figures such as entrepreneur Dick Smith, TV host David Koch and former NSW premier Mike Baird. The suit is coming following the ACCC’s investigation of the company in February for alleged involvement in fraudulent ads.

The regulator in a post earlier today stated that Meta:

Aided and abetted or was knowingly concerned in false or misleading conduct and representations by the advertisers.

This has led to some users losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the scams associated with the ads, it added.

How the ads work

Facebook users come across ads containing dubious links that direct them to a fake media article with fake quotes attributed to prominent figures, claiming they endorse a cryptocurrency money-making scheme. Once there, users are asked to sign and pressured by scammers into making deposits into the scheme.

Facebook now Meta is receiving ad revenue for showing those ads and generating clicks.

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.

ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.

Mining billionaire sues Meta

Apart from the ACCC, an Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest had in February sued Meta for hosting ads that used his name to scam unsuspecting victims. According to Forrest, Facebook breaching Australia’s money-laundering laws, saying it: “knowingly profits from this cycle of illegal ads” it failed to remove.

The hearing is scheduled for March 28 while the date for the ACCC case has not yet been scheduled.