Claim for damages against Meta dismissed; “fake advertising left unattended” allegation denied – 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.

The plaintiffs alleged that Meta was aware that there were a lot of fake advertisements on SNS, and that it could have easily deleted them but left them alone, causing fraud.

In the ruling, Chief Judge Takagi ruled that the advertisement was ``hard to say that it was easily recognized as a fraudulent and false advertisement at the time it was published.'' It cannot be acknowledged that Meta received information that the advertisement was false between April and November 2023, when the plaintiffs viewed the advertisement, and pointed out that it cannot be acknowledged that businessmen Yusaku Maezawa and Takafumi Horie, whose names were used, had requested Meta to delete it.

He then dismissed the claim, saying, ``It cannot be said that Meta had an obligation to investigate and confirm the truthfulness of the advertisement and not make it available on Facebook and other sites.''