Meta profited from illegal scam ads, California county lawsuit alleges
Summary
Santa Clara County in California has sued Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, accusing it of allowing scam advertisements on its platforms and making money from them. The lawsuit claims Meta made up to $7 billion a year from scam ads and did not do enough to stop them, despite promising to fight scams.Key Facts
- Santa Clara County filed the lawsuit in its superior court on behalf of all California residents.
- The lawsuit accuses Meta of violating California laws against false advertising and unfair business practices.
- Meta allegedly earned as much as $7 billion annually from scam ads labeled as “high-risk.”
- The county says Meta tolerated scam ads and created rules to limit anti-scam efforts if they were too costly.
- Meta denies the allegations and says it fights scams to protect users and businesses on its platforms.
- The complaint says Meta helped scam advertisers by letting middlemen sell protected ad accounts and targeting users with scam ads.
- The lawsuit claims Meta’s artificial intelligence sometimes helps create scam ads.
- Santa Clara County is working with three outside law firms but will keep full control of the case and pay the firms only if it wins.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.