MoneySavingExpert founder sues Facebook over fake adverts

MoneySavingExpert founder Martin Lewis is filing a lawsuit against Facebook for publicizing fake adverts featuring his name and picture.

Martin Lewis, a money-saving expert and consumer adviser, is litigating in damages to defamation and in tantamount to legions of victims who derail to those pro-scam advertisements phrasing “get rich quick”.

He added that the money will be put into charity that works to quell such scamming advertisements.

The prosecution will respond to Face book’s failure to cease and prevent the frenzied ads despite Lewis’s complaints pertaining the false paid-adverts across the social site.

“Facebook is not above the law. It cannot hide outside the UK and think that it is untouchable. Exemplary damages are being sought. This means we will ask the court to ensure they are substantial enough that Facebook can’t simply see paying out damages as just the ‘cost of business’ and carry on regardless.

“It is consistent, it is repeated. Other companies such as Outbrain who have run these adverts have taken them down. What is particularly pernicious about Facebook is that it says the onus is on me, so I have spent time and effort and stress repeatedly to have them taken down.”

Aside from the vilification, he pointed out how alarming it is that the fake ads are out there and more people may be falling victim to the con adverts.

“I get about five messages a day from people saying, ‘I’ve just seen your Bitcoin ad and wanted to check it.’ If that is the number who get through to me, how many more must be just taken in?”

He stressed that the real problem at this gist is none other than Facebook itself – considering its unfiltered and “non-serious” paid-publicity is causing the dozens of scams, Facebook should face the consequences “as so many times it has breached them.”

"Be under no illusion the real problem here is Facebook. It accepts these adverts with seemingly no care, attention or quality threshold. It allows everyone and anyone, including criminal scammers from overseas, to advertise on its site. Then, even though it's taking their shilling, it takes no responsibility, leaving the burden on someone like me whose image is being ripped off, or on vulnerable people being scammed, to fight it.”

He contended that Facebook is “facilitating scams” on a constant basis in a morally repugnant way and if Mark Zuckerburg wants to be the champion of moral causes, then he needs to stop its company doing this.