Australian competition regulator is suing Meta over false cryptocurrency-related ads using Australian celebrities!
The ACCC has exposed unapproved or approved “scam” advertisements related to cryptocurrencies and featuring prominent Australian figures such as entrepreneur Dick Smith, TV host David Koch and former Prime Minister of NSW Mike Baird, in particular.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is suing Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook) in Federal Court, alleging that the company and its Irish branch engaged in “false, misleading or misleading conduct” by posting fraudulent advertisements related to cryptocurrencies and celebrities.
Some users have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to sophisticated and long-running scams.
The spotlight on Meta has warmed up in Australia since early February, with Cointelegraph previously reporting that the ACCC was investigating the company for allegedly fraudulent cryptocurrency-related advertisements. Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has also filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc. for hosting advertisements that allegedly used his name to defraud victims.
In announcement published earlier today, the ACCC claimed that Meta “has aided and abetted or knowingly been concerned with false or misleading conduct and representations by advertisers.”
The ACCC has highlighted unapproved or approved ‘scam’ adverts featuring prominent Australian figures such as entrepreneur Dick Smith, TV host David Koch and former NSW Premier Mike Baird .
The regulator said the ads contained questionable links that directed users away from Facebook to a fake media article containing quotes attributed to the public figure believed to be endorsing a “cryptocurrency or money-earning scheme.”
“Users were then prompted to register and were then contacted by scammers who used high pressure tactics, such as repeated phone calls, to convince users to deposit funds into the fake schemes,” says the announcement.
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims didn’t mince words, as he claimed that “Meta is responsible for these ads it puts out on its platform” and that the company stands to gain financially by not not deleting them:
“It’s a key part of Meta’s business to allow advertisers to target users most likely to click the link in an ad to visit the ad’s landing page, using Facebook’s algorithms. These visits to landing pages from ads generate substantial revenue for Facebook.”
“In one shocking case, we know of a consumer who lost over $650,000 due to one of these scams falsely advertised as an investment opportunity on Facebook. It’s shameful,” he added.
The ACCC argues that the company’s conduct breached the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act (ASIC Act), and seeks “representations, injunctions, penalties, costs and other orders”.
Par Brian Quarmby, Cointelegraph
Brian Quarmby discovered cryptocurrency in 2013 and immediately fell in love with the idea of decentralization. Brian has since lived and worked in Asia and moved back to Melbourne at the end of 2019. Brian is a lover of sport and the arts, he is optimistic about the potential of NFTs to transform the lives of artists in the near future.
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