Meta is facing a new lawsuit over its advertising practices. Nonprofit group Consumer Federation of America (CFA) has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Meta for “failing to protect users” from scam ads on Facebook and Instagram.
The lawsuit, which was first reported wiredAllegations are that Meta violated consumer protection laws in Washington DC by misleading Facebook and Instagram users about scams on its apps and that the company “pursued profits rather than protecting its users.” The filing includes several examples of allegedly scam ads that CFA says it found in Meta’s ad library. These include ads promoting a “free government iPhone”, as well as ads claiming to give a $1,400 check to people born in certain years. According to CFA, many ads use AI videos.
Meta’s advertising practices have been in the news since last year reuters Reported on internal documents indicating that the company was making billions of dollars from scams and advertisements promoting banned items. The report also highlights how Meta’s own processes have at times made it difficult for its employees to fight malicious advertisers.
“Meta claims it is doing everything possible to crack down on scam ads on its platforms,” the CFA lawsuit states. “But in reality, Meta has deliberately taken steps and adopted policies that hurt its bottom line at the expense of the safety and well-being of its users. In fact, instead of banning advertisers whom the company itself has determined pose a greater risk to its users (as other tech companies like Google have done), Meta charges these advertisers more. The perverse result is that the riskier the advertiser, the more money Meta makes. Will earn.”
CFA’s allegations “misrepresent the reality of our work and we will fight them,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. “We aggressively combat scams on our platforms to protect people and businesses – last year alone, we removed over 159 million scam ads, 92% of which we removed before anyone reported them, and removed 10.9 million accounts on Facebook and Instagram linked to criminal scam centers. We fight scams because they’re bad for business – people don’t want them, advertisers don’t want them They are, and we don’t want them either.”
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