In an official statement, Facebook has announced that they have filed a lawsuit against a Hong Kong company that allegedly distributed malware and false advertisements to trick buyers into paying for counterfeit goods, amongst other complaints. Facebook also argues that the group used celebrity images “to entice people to click on them” which Facebook calls “celeb bait.” Facebook is also asserting that the company called ILikeAd Media International Company Ltd. and two individuals named in the suit engaged in what’s known as “cloaking”.
Cloaking is where advertisers (or those paying for a post to be promoted) submit something for review, but are later able to change what end users will actually see. In other words, a would-be offender could in theory show Facebook a harmless ad, but once the fake ad is approved, they can then show a new harmful ad such as one for counterfeit goods or unproven and questionable supplements like diet pills. Cloaking, according to Facebook, is something that only the worst manipulators of the system engage in, and it requires a very high degree of sophistication to pull off.
What’s most concerning about this lawsuit, however, is that the company in question was able to spread malware to Facebook users that caused them to further spread the harmful messages. In its official post, the company has noted that they will be reimbursing accounts that were affected by this incident.
F is for Facebook, or Fake News?
Facebook has been in the headlines a lot recently thanks to its involvement in the 2016 US election fiasco as well as its more recent, controversial stance on fake news. For example, Facebook announced recently that they will not be verifying the authenticity of ads placed on their site. This led to some public figures intentionally launching obviously false campaign ads as a means of criticizing Facebook’s decision. 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren has called out the decision, claiming that President Trump will use false advertisements to lure in voters.
In this most recent action against fraud, we can see that Facebook is acting to protect its users by shutting down those that would try to not only spread false information but malware as well. However, what we don’t know is how often the practice of cloaking is occurring, and how active Facebook is in shutting it down. If Facebook can’t get a grip on these types of problems, consumers could begin to lose faith in the platform and start moving elsewhere.
