John de Mol, one of the brains behind entertainment giant Endemol and the Big Brother television format, filed his suit with an Amsterdam court three months ago. Since then, Facebook and de Mol have reportedly negotiated to no avail. De Mol claims Facebook failed to set measures to stop such scams from advertising on its platform. “While the company seemed to be cooperating, it was merely a smokescreen that concealed its reluctance to put in place the desired measures in a timely and correct manner,” said De Mol via a statement cited by Reuters. Hard Fork has previously reported on numerous instances of fraudulent cryptocurrency ads that feature celebs from almost every corner of the world. Australian television hosts, famed British philanthropist Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and even Lithuanian singer Jonatanas Kazlauskas have been targeted, as well as many others. We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment, and will update this piece should we receive a reply. Update 11:43 UTC, 10 September: A Facebook spokesperson has since contacted Hard Fork to explain the firm’s side of the story. “We are as eager as John de Mol to remove misleading ads on Facebook – we don’t want them on our platform and remove them when we find them. We have increased our efforts across the board to detect potentially violating, scammy behavior and, as well as identifying and removing associated ad accounts that may violate our policies,” they said. The spokesperson then added that Facebook is up against “persistent and constantly evolving adversaries” that attempt to game its systems, so the company aims to keep improving and evolving the enforcement of its policies. “Although we agreed not to discuss ongoing litigation or the content of confidential settlement negotiations, we can confirm the parties tried over several weeks to find an amicable resolution in respect of Mr. De Mol’s complaint but unfortunately have so far failed in those good faith attempts,” said the spokesperson. Want more Hard Fork? Join us in Amsterdam on October 15-17 to discuss blockchain and cryptocurrency with leading experts.
