Facebook Owner Meta To Face Lawsuits In Japan Over Scam Ads

Meta Platforms Inc., the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is facing new lawsuits in Japan over advertisements that fraudulently solicited investment funds using fake endorsements from celebrities, lawyers for the plaintiffs said, Kyodo News reported.

The plaintiffs argue that Meta has an obligation to investigate the content of advertisements and prevent them from being posted on social media if it can foresee potential harm to users. I Photo: Marco Paköeningrat Flickr

Approximately 30 plaintiffs are seeking at least 300 million yen ($2 million) from the U.S. technology giant and its Japanese subsidiary, arguing that they failed to adequately prevent the scams.

The lawsuits will be filed in five district courts across the country, including Saitama, Chiba, and Osaka.

Among the individuals whose names were used in the fraudulent advertisements is Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, the founder of online fashion retailer Zozo Inc., who traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian spacecraft in 2021.

The plaintiffs viewed the fake advertisements before being directed to transfer money to designated investment accounts, the lawyers said.

They argue that Meta has an obligation to investigate the content of advertisements and prevent them from being posted on social media if it can foresee potential harm to users, Mainichi Japan also reported.