Meta forced to apologise to Qatari billionaire over crypto scams

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US social media giant Meta has been forced to apologise publicly to Qatari billionaire Wissam al Mana and promise extra protection after his image was used in crypto scam advertisements on Facebook. 

Al Mana, a prominent businessman in the region and former husband of pop star Janet Jackson, was featured in advertisements published on Facebook in 2019 to entice people to sign up to crypto schemes in the Middle East.

Al Mana has pursued Meta in courts in Dublin over the past three years, alleging that the ads caused reputational harm, distress and embarrassment.

In a Dublin court on Friday, Meta admitted that “throughout 2019, several false, misleading and defamatory advertisements were published on Facebook by malicious third parties, featuring the image of Mr Wissam Al Mana, without his knowledge or consent”. 

Meta added: “Meta accepts and regrets that the publication of these fake advertisements by malicious third parties has caused Mr Al Mana reputational harm, distress and embarrassment. Meta apologises sincerely and unreservedly to Mr Al Mana for this.”

Crypto ventures — both legitimate and fraudulent — often use social media platforms to lure in new customers promising quick returns and using celebrity endorsements. 

The case is relatively unusual: the high costs involved in carrying out multiyear legal proceedings against the tech giant normally act as a deterrent.

However, politicians and other public figures have also issued proceedings in Ireland against social media groups, including a claim by Micheál Martin, Ireland’s foreign minister, over the use of his name and image to promote cryptocurrency scams featured by Google. In 2019, Meta settled a defamation claim brought in England by Martin Lewis by making a £3mn donation to an anti-scam charity and launching new tools for users to report fake ads.

While groups such as Meta normally move quickly to remove the fraudulent ads, a person close to the Al Mana case said that there was not enough being done to ensure that the scammers do not simply start again.

Meta reviews and approves adverts before they appear on Facebook but scammers can use false identities to try to circumvent the checks, according to industry experts. The names given as being behind the Al Mana adverts have not responded to or got involved in the case, leading to doubts about their validity. 

As a result of the case, Meta has agreed that it will use “robust measures” to tackle such advertisements in the future. Irish law firm Ronan Daly Jermyn were instructed to act for the businessman in the case in Dublin. The terms of settlement have been kept confidential.

Al Mana is a well known businessman in the Gulf, helping manage his family-owned group in Qatar and holds the exclusive rights to the distribution of multiple luxury brands, including Harvey Nichols, Alexander McQueen and Hermès. 

Al Mana issued proceedings against Meta in Dublin in February 2020, but the outcome of the case was only heard in court on Friday. Irish defamation laws are seen as more friendly than the US.

As part of his case, Al Mana’s legal team said that Facebook removed the initial set of fake ads but did not implement effective measures to prevent more from appearing. Further fake adverts then appeared later in 2019, and Meta again removed these.

Meta declined to comment about the litigation.

Additional reporting by Cristina Criddle