Facebook is under heavy fire once again, this time from users claiming that the firm is profiting from fraudsters using its integrated Ads Manager feature to promote dodgy cryptocurrency ‘get rich quick’ schemes in its updated News Feed.
The social media titan has guidelines in place to prevent “deceptive, false and misleading” adverts from being displayed, yet customers are continuing to report that complex scams are being shown on their News Feed on a regular basis.
We did a little bit of digging and were able to uncover a number of illicit adverts – one of which was used to promote an non-existent cryptocurrency funding round, known as an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), for TON, Telegram’s upcoming Bitcoin rival.
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The fraudsters in question are using images of influential people – including Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson – to add a false sense of credibility to their adverts, encouraging users to follow the links and ultimately fall victim to their scams.
A Facebook ad promoting a non-existent TON funding round.
“It is wrong that social media companies, such as Facebook, are profiting from phishing scams and fake adverts that are harmful to their platform’s users,” Damian Collins, Chairman of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told the Press Association.
Facebook has been in hot water recently for its alleged role in facilitating the spread of fake news curated – and promoted – by Russian propaganda organisations amid the 2016 presidential election in the United States.
We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment and will update this post when we hear back.
In the meantime, we’d love to know whether you’ve spotted any dishonest schemes on your News Feed? Drop us a line on Facebook or Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
