Meta faces 435 million yen lawsuit over investment fraud ads in Japan
Thirty Japanese individuals and corporations have filed a lawsuit against Meta and its Japanese subsidiary, seeking a total of approximately 435 million yen in damages, alleging that they fell victim to investment fraud in which people impersonated celebrities because Meta, the company that operates Facebook and Instagram, failed to verify the authenticity of advertisements.
Fake investment scam: Meta sued for 400 million yen, claiming it 'failed to investigate' | 47NEWS
Fake SNS ads impersonating celebrities 'caused harm by ignoring them' Meta sued in five district courts nationwide | NHK | Incident
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20241029/k10014622641000.html
30 people file lawsuit against Meta in five district courts nationwide, ignoring celebrity impersonation ads | Mainichi Shimbun
https://mainichi.jp/articles/20241029/k00/00m/040/145000c
According to Kyodo News and other sources, the lawsuits have been filed in five district courts in Saitama, Chiba, Yokohama, Osaka, and Kobe. The eight people who filed the lawsuit in the Osaka District Court viewed fake investment advertisements impersonating businessmen Yusaku Maezawa and Takafumi Horie. When they clicked on the advertisements, they were directed to a LINE group, where they were prompted by a person claiming to be an 'assistant' to send cash to invest in FX and virtual currency.
The plaintiffs argue that Meta has a duty not to allow ads to run if it can foreseeably pose a risk of harm to users.
Facebook and Instagram are used to distribute advertisements using the faces of celebrities without permission, making them almost lawless areas. Famous people such as Yusaku Maezawa and Takafumi Horie have also complained about being impersonated, but the plaintiffs say that 'Meta did not take any serious action.'
In April 2024, Meta released a statement about investment fraud ads, saying that it had 'made significant investments over many years and taken multifaceted measures to protect users from fraud.' It also explained the proliferation of fraudulent ads by saying that 'reviewing a huge number of ads around the world comes with challenges.'
Meta finally issues statement on fraudulent ads, but without any improvement plan, just excuses that 'reviewing a huge number of ads around the world comes with challenges' - GIGAZINE
As of April 2024, the Consumer Affairs Agency has stated that investment fraud advertisements rampant on social media are 'not subject to regulation under the current Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations.'
As of June of the same year, the Financial Services Agency stated that 'there is a possibility that this may violate the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.' In addition, they have set up a consultation hotline for those who are concerned about advertisements on social media that are suspected to be investment scams, and are issuing warnings.
Establishment of a hotline for receiving information regarding advertisements, etc. suspected to be investment fraud on social media: Financial Services Agency
https://www.fsa.go.jp/receipt/toushisagi_koukoku.html
According to the National Police Agency, the damage caused by 'SNS investment fraud,' in which scammers pose as celebrities on social media to encourage investments,
A summary by the National Police Agency from January to June of the same year showed that the total number of victims of SNS investment scams was 3,570, most of whom were aged 50 or older.
The most common methods of initial contact with victims are LINE, Facebook, and Instagram, with LINE accounting for more than 90% of communication methods at the time of victimization.
As a countermeasure against investment fraud ads, Meta plans to introduce a facial recognition system that will block ads by comparing the faces of celebrities in the ads with their Facebook or Instagram profile photos. However, this will not work unless the celebrity's photo is registered with Meta, so it is not a fundamental solution.
Meta announces that it will introduce a facial recognition system to combat 'fraudulent advertising using celebrities' faces without permission' rampant on Facebook and Instagram - GIGAZINE
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