Martin Lewis, a proprietor of consumer finance site and host of The Martin Lewis Money Show, has filed, what is currently being referred to as a “groundbreaking lawsuit.” According to him, Facebook has shown a lack of vigilance and has allowed fake accounts to propagate through its platform. A consequence of this being his reputation being leveraged in scammy bitcoin-based advertisements. To sum up this incident in Lewis’s own words, “I will issue High Court proceedings against Facebook, […] to try and stop all the disgusting repeated fake adverts from scammers it refuses to stop publishing with my picture, name, and reputation.”
Facebook has recently come under fire from authoritative figures because of their callous disregard for people’s privacy. The attorney who is leading the charge has cited, “Facebook is not above the law,” and states that the social media company will have to pay up “Exemplary damages” so that they start taking these matters seriously.
This, however, is not being done in pursuit of personal gains, and Lewis claims that all “money paid out to him will be donated to anti-scam charities.”
A press releases quotes, “Within the last year, [Facebook] has published over 50 fake Martin Lewis adverts, which are regularly seen, likely by millions of people, in the UK. These adverts are often for scams. Many have big pictures of Martin and his name, alongside a raft of false promises or endorsements – some then link on to fake articles which continue the theme.”
Lewis had been having tos and fros with Facebook over the last year now, and there seems to be no improvement regarding the matter. Lewis is heard exclaiming, “enough is enough.” According to Lewis, “Any ad with my picture or name in is without my permission. I’ve asked it not to publish them, or at least to check their legitimacy with me before publishing. This shouldn’t be difficult – after all, it’s a leader in face and text recognition. Yet it simply continues to repeatedly publish these adverts and then relies on me to report them, once the damage has been done.”