Damage claims against Meta Inc. dismissed for ``leaving false advertisements'' and fraud victims - Yokohama District Court

On the 15th, the Yokohama District Court handed down a judgment in a lawsuit in which six victims of investment fraud and one corporation sought a total of approximately 43 million yen in damages from the Japanese and American entities of the SNS management company Meta (formerly Facebook) for allowing false advertisements to appear on social media using the facial photos and names of celebrities without their permission. Presiding Judge Katsumi Takagi dismissed the claim. This is the first judgment in a similar lawsuit filed in six district courts nationwide.

Meta and Google found liable: ``Despite being aware of the dangers in the app design, they failed to warn'' - SNS addiction lawsuit in California

According to the complaint, advertisements impersonating businessmen Yusaku Maezawa and Takafumi Horie have been posted on Facebook and other sites since around 2023. Mr. Maezawa and others requested deletion or non-posting of the article from around the middle of the same year at the latest. The plaintiffs alleged that Meta had an obligation to investigate the truthfulness of the content of the advertisements and not provide false advertisements to users, but instead did not investigate and left the matter as it was.