German court holds Meta liable for 'fraudulent' ads on Facebook, Instagram

A German court has ruled that US technology company Meta can be held legally liable for "fraudulent" advertisements published by third parties on Facebook and Instagram.

The Frankfurt Regional Court said Thursday that Meta must stop the publication and distribution of fake advertisements that unlawfully used the logo of a financial information portal and the name and images of its well-known founder.

The case was brought by a company operating an online portal offering comparison calculators, product reviews and consumer guidance on financial products, as well as its founder and managing director.

The portal has more than 600,000 followers on Instagram and around 29,000 on Facebook.

According to the court, unidentified users used the company's registered logo and images of its founder to promote purported financial investments, directing users to external links in what appeared to be fraudulent schemes.

Several affected users subsequently contacted the plaintiffs.

The company reported nearly 260 violations to Meta in August 2024 alone, but identical or substantially similar advertisements continued to appear. Meta took up to 62 days to remove some of the content.

The court found that the advertisements seriously infringed the company's corporate personality rights and the founder's personal rights.