Meta sued in Japan for allowing fraudulent ads
Meta, the owner of Facebook, was hit with new lawsuits in Japan on Tuesday for allowing fake ads on its platforms that asked users to invest in scams supposedly promoted by celebrities.
Thirty Japanese plaintiffs are seeking a total of 435 million yen (about $2.62 million) in damages from the U.S. tech giant, a claim that the company and its Japanese subsidiary did not do enough to prevent fraud, according to their lawyers.
These people, based in Tokyo, Osaka and other prefectures in the country, saw fake investment ads on Facebook and Instagram, posing as the founder of online fashion retailer Zozo Inc., Yusaku Maezawa, or Japanese businessman Takafumi Horie.
The plaintiffs saw this advertisement and were then directed to a Japan Express Service line, where they were instructed to transfer the funds to specific investment accounts.
“The number of victims of investment fraud on social networks is increasing and it has become a new crime. We believe that the damage could have been avoided if Meta had properly checked the content of ads,” said Yasumichi Kokufu, head of the legal team.
The tech giant was also sued in the Kobe District Court, in the western part of the archipelago, last April by four men and a woman in a similar case, in addition to other lawsuits in various courts across the country at the beginning of the year.