On Thursday, Facebook sued iLikeAd, a Hong Kong company. iLikeAd is said to be attracting people to click on the celebrity photos and fake advertisement links. When a person clicks on them, it can install malware and run ads for male enhancement supplements, diet pills, and counterfeit goods.
Facebook accused iLikeAd Media International Co’s marketer Huang Tao and software developer Chen Xiao Cong of using improper “cloaking” and “celeb bait” practices since at least 2016.
The social media company also said that iLikeAd hijacked user’s ad accounts called “account take over fraud, ” breaking its advertising policies and terms of service.
Facebook filed a complaint in the federal court, San Francisco seeking a ban and unspecified damages. Since April, Facebook has been notifying many users that their accounts might have been endangered.
A California based company, The Menlo Park, said that it paid over $4 million to its customers whose accounts got hacked by iLikeAd to run their unauthorized ads.
Cloaking refers to hiding the content of a link and showing one version of that to Facebook and the other version to the user.
The director of platform enforcement and litigation of Facebook, Jessica Romero, stated, “Creating real-world consequences for those who trick users and involved in cloaking schemes is essential to maintain the integrity.”
According to the complaint, iLikeAd promoted itself as a complete one-stop solution to the advertisers trying to market their wares on Facebook.
The case is Facebook Inc v ILikeAd International Co et al, at US District Court, Northern District of California, with No. 19-07971.
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