Facebook Settled Scam Advert Lawsuit For £3.9m
Mike Sanders / 6 years ago
Facebook Settles ‘Scam Advert’ Legal Case
Any peruse of some of the more questionable areas of the internet will generally, sooner or later, throw an advert at you with a celebrity’s picture. They often carry the tag line of ‘you won’t believe how much X is worth’ or ‘so-and-so’s secret to earning $100,000 a day’. It seems, however, that Facebook was propagating this ‘style’ of advert using a notable UK financial journalist.
Now, of course, Facebook didn’t create the advert. They were, however, distributing it via their social media platform.
In a report via The Verge, however, Martin Lewis (whose image was used in the advertisements) has dropped his lawsuit against Facebook after the social media site agreed to a settlement deal. It is, however, a deal that will both surprise and please!
Martin Lewis
Martin Lewis’ legal case was a rather simple one. Namely that he felt that his name and image was being used, without his permission, to advertise for highly-questionable cryptocurrency websites or ‘get rich quick’ schemes. It formed merely a small part of the aforementioned ‘fake endorsement’ system of scam advertising.
‘Well, take a look at what happened, seriously!’
The £3.9 million settlement is, however, largely good news. As part of the agreement, while Martin Lewis will (seemingly) receive around £900,000. The remaining £3m will be paid as a Facebook donation to the UK’s Citizens Advice organisation. In addition, a new ‘report’ feature will be added to all advertisements in the future.
It’s a notable legal case as this is one of the first instances of a known figure fighting this type of advertisement. We hope that many more will also choose to take the time to fight their own battles!
What do you think? Is this a good settlement deal? Do you have issues with the adverts on Facebook? In addition, will this lead to more similar legal cases? – Let us know in the comments!