Dutch billionaire John De Mol will now be suing Facebook over deceptive crypto ads using his name and image without permission. He is not the first one to get his image used so let’s now find out more about it in the latest cryptocurrency news.
De Mol claims that consumers around the world lost about 1.7 million euros because of deceptive ads and his reputation was damaged in the process. The California-based social media giant is yet again in trouble for the same reasons over fake crypto ads despite their efforts to eliminate the problem.
Facebook became the first social media platform in 2018 that banned cryptocurrency ads which spiked other tech giants such as Google and Twitter to follow the same regulations on their platforms. Facebook even declared at that time that the company will prohibit ads that use deceptive or misleading promotional practices, especially regarding the initial coin offerings. The product management director at Facebook explained the company’s decisions:
“We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception. That said, there are many companies who are advertising binary options, ICOs and cryptocurrencies that are not currently operating in good faith.”
The ban includes that Facebook will ban all crypto ads on its platform and then they will learn how to select the ones that are truly deceptive. Leathern also mentioned that the company will revisit the policies after they enforce it. Later, Facebook did revise the prohibited products and services and according to the policy statements:
“Starting June 26, we’ll be updating our policy to allow ads that promote cryptocurrency and related content from pre-approved advertisers. But we’ll continue to prohibit ads that promote binary options and initial coin offerings.”
The case filed by De Mol who is a 64-year Dutch billionaire is not the first one he has been affiliated with. The net worth of the businessman reaches $1.7 billion. He first encountered the problem in October 2018 when his lawyer Jacqueline Schaap told one of the best cryptocurrency news sites via email:
“John de Mol noticed the ads for the first time in October 2018, we do not know whether these were the first adds to appear. We just have not noticed them before, but that does not mean that they have not been published.”
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