Some aggrieved Facebook users have called for a lawsuit against the platform for allowing scam ads while banning legitimate advertisers.
A user took to Reddit on 9 March to raise their concerns after being scammed by what seemed to be a legitimate advertiser that Facebook approved.
Making money off scams
Facebook ads is a feature that allows the platform to earn revenue by supporting advertisers to sell their products or services.
Apparently, several scammers have also been granted legitimate grounds to operate on the platform, leading to several cases of users being scammed by advertisers that should be trusted.
The user who was a victim of the scam wrote:
“There is no way that a huge company should be making money off scammers advertising on their site, giving it an air of legitimacy. Facebook needs to be sued by all the people who have been ripped off by scammers posting ads on their site.”
To make matters worse, it is alleged that Facebook doesn’t take any action against the scam ads and just allows them to keep preying on unsuspecting users.
Facebook also allegedly bans legitimate ad accounts, while the scam ones are allowed a free hand to operate, because Meta doesn’t care what is being promoted as long as they get paid. One other user wrote:
“Like many of you, I’ve been dealing with Meta’s broken ad system. They ban legit ad accounts, yet they allow scammers to flood the platform with fraud, fake giveaways, and even prostitution ads.”
Existing signs
Other users have complained in the past about their Facebook feed being flooded with explicit content.
With this allegation of unregulated scam ads that include prostitution, it makes more sense that such a thing is happening and no urgent step has been taken to address it.