According to a report by media outlet Buzzfeed, Facebook has fired an employeeafter it was discovered that he was being bribed to reactivate an illegal ad 's policies platform. The employee is said to have received at least $5,000 from a marketing firm called AdsInc.
Buzzfeed reported that Ads Inc. was running fake ads for products purporting to be endorsed by celebrities. The company was exploiting Facebook’s platform to serve its ads and attract more users. It would then redirect users to ascam. A Facebook spokesperson said that after Buzzfeed reported the matter, the company conducted an investigation, discovered the employee’s involvement, and fired him.
However, an anonymous source connected to Ads Inc. said that more Facebook employees were involved in this case.
Senator Mark Warner, D-Calif., told Buzzfeed that this incident demonstrates that digital advertisers are exploiting large and popular platforms to commit fraud and other crimes. “Because of Section 230, neither the state nor the victims of these frauds can hold the platforms accountable for facilitating the fraudsters,” he said.
According to Section 230 of the US Telecommunications Act (1996), online platforms are not responsible for the content that third parties upload to them. Thus, Facebook is not legally responsible for Ad Inc.'s fraud, even though the advertising company used its platform.
On the one hand, this law makes sense. Platforms cannot be held responsible for the actions of others. On the other hand, however, popular services are increasingly being used for illegal activities, misleading users, fraud, etc.Therefore, some measures must be taken to protect users as well as platforms. Lawmakers should take another look at Article 230. For example, last year, Congress passed a significant amendment to the law that allows for complaints against platforms that host content related to sex trafficking.
