On Friday, Australia sued Meta Platforms over scam advertisements on Facebook that falsely include prominent figures.
Accordingly, the country’s consumer protection agency stated that the adverts endorsed investment in cryptocurrency or money-making schemes.
The fraud also featured well-known Australians, including former New South Wales premier Mike Baird and businessman Dick Smith.
Subsequently, scammers convince users to deposit funds into the fake schemes. The agency emphasized that Meta failed to take sufficient steps to stop fake ads.
It said that the firm did not move even after those public figures reported that their name was in the ads.
The commission already started Federal Court proceedings against the technology heavyweight for false, misleading, or deceptive conduct.
Authorities mentioned that they would seek orders from the court, including injunctions, penalties, and the payment of legal costs.
The Australian watchdog noted that the social media platform misled users, violating consumer or securities laws.
The commission noted that one user lost more than S$480,000 in one of the scams advertised.
Meta vowed to defend itself. Consequently, the company ensured to halt scam ads by detecting and blocking them. It also confirmed that it had cooperated with the investigation.
Last month, Australian iron ore magnate Andrew Forrest also launched criminal proceedings against Facebook over scam ads.
The chairman of Fortescue Metals Group took action to stop people from losing money to click baits.
The lawsuit came after Forrest said he made several requests asking Facebook to prevent fraud in using his image in promoting investment plans.
This move included an open letter to Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in November 2019.
Meta will face a maximum penalty of $90,000.00 on each charge if sentenced to guilty.
Australia’s standoff against Meta, Google
Facebook and Google have been under pressure in Australia after disagreeing initially with its newly imposed law.
Users experienced the standoff through their social media feed. For eight days, the social media platforms featured no news.
Nevertheless, the big tech companies have paid local media companies around $146.00 million in the past year.
The ruling has helped the local industry create at least 50 new journalist roles in underserved market parts.
It was the first country to introduce regulations forcing technology platforms to negotiate payments with the sector.
Meanwhile, Facebook announced a program to help train Australian political candidates and influencers on cyber security.
This act targets to stop the spread of potential misinformation during campaigning for the country’s upcoming federal election.
