A Dutch court ordered Facebook to remove Bitcoin investment scam ads after local television producer John de Mol had brought a lawsuit against the company.
The court ruled that the social media giant must remove the ads and provide all information on the advertisers behind the scam ads. Otherwise, the company could face a fine up to 1.1 million euros.
“Facebook’s arguments that it is just a neutral funnel for information, and therefore cannot be obligated to act, is not acceptable. The company plays too active a role with respect to advertisements, which form its primary business model, to argue that,” the court said.
As previously reported, this June, Dutch billionaire John de Mol, the businessman who created the “Big Brother” reality television program filed a lawsuit against Facebook for using his name and image in fake ads. The ads encouraged people to participate in fake cryptocurrency-related businesses allegedly backed by De Mol.