Australian regulatory authority has slammed Meta Company, formerly Facebook, with a lawsuit for allowing malicious cryptocurrency advertising on its social media platform.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), in a statement on Friday, said it had instituted federal court proceedings against Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Inc.
“The ACCC alleges that this conduct was in breach of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act (ASIC Act).
“It is also alleged that Meta aided and abetted or was knowingly concerned in false or misleading conduct and representations by the advertisers,” the statement readverts.
ACCC further explained that Facebook engaged in misleading activity by circulating scam advertisements using the faces of well-known Australian public figures.
The advertisements included links that took Facebook users to a fake media article containing quotes from public figures like businessman Dick Smith, television presenter David Koch, and former NSW Premier Mike Baird.
The regulator added that users were asked to sign up and were thereafter contacted by scammers attempting to convince them to deposit funds into the fake schemes accounts.
This is not the first time Meta Company is facing lawsuits for allowing fraudulent advertisements on it Facebook platform. It was sued in February by Australian billionaire, Andrew Forrest for allowing crypto scam ads that used his personality to trick victims. He filed case against Facebook for its inability to prevent such malicious adverts.
A California class-action lawsuit in August 2021 accused the Facebook of collaborating with fraudsters by allowing adverts that harvested users’ personal information.