A Dutch court has ordered social media platform Facebook to remove fraudulent advertisements that use the images of celebrities to promote crypto-related scams.
According to a report by Reuters on Nov. 11, Facebook will have to take responsibility for the plethora of scam advertisements that are misrepresenting celebrities and other well-known figures to push crypto-related investments.
The ruling follows a high-profile lawsuit between Dutch billionaire John De Mol, who sued Facebook after the company failed to remove advertisements using his image to defraud investors in cryptocurrency scams. De Mol said after three months of negotiations it was “impossible” to come to an agreement with Facebook over the fake adverts.
In September, it was reported that fraudulent Telegram advertisements were appearing on Russian Facebook, using CEO and founder Pavel Durov’s image to sell a scam investment into TON. New Zealand TV personality Duncan Garner also complained about the social media platform hosting ads using his image to sell bitcoin and exotic cars.
The court’s summary judgement said that Facebook can no longer take a neutral stance towards the adverts,
Facebook’s arguments that it is just a neutral funnel for information and therefore cannot be obligated to act, is not acceptable…The company plays too active a role with respect to advertisements, which form its primary business model to argue that.
Facebook must pull the fraudulent ads or face fines of up to 1.1 million euros ($1.2 million).
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