Social media page pushing 51 fake ads featuring Australian prime minister and attracting up to 15,000 views each taken down by Meta for ‘violating policies’
A Facebook page using photoshopped images of Anthony Albanese in dozens of scam investment ads has been removed by the social media company.
The 51 ads, with between 1,000 and 15,000 views each, had been pushed by a French music page with 14,000 followers since the start of this year, according to Meta’s ad library for Facebook.
The ads, linking to fake news sites that details an “investment opportunity”, feature the poorly photoshopped images of the prime minister either being arrested in a mock-up of an ABC News screengrab or at a press conference. The captions read: “didn’t know the camera was still recording” and “is this the end of his career?”.
The sites the ads link to encourage people to sign up. Similar ads with former Project host Carrie Bickmore have also recently been spruiked on Facebook.
Earlier scam ads featuring Dick Smith, David Koch, Mike Baird and Andrew Forrest have been receiving attention since 2020, but Albanese’s image appears to be the first time the scammers have used a current-serving prime minister in the scam.
A previous Guardian Australia investigation found the sites were registered to addresses in Russia, with others in Ukraine.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Guardian Australia sought comment from Meta and soon after the page promoting the advertisements was taken down.
“We’ve removed the ads for violating our policies,” a Meta spokesperson said. “Scams and scam ads have no place on Meta’s platforms, they violate Meta’s policies and harm our business by negatively affecting people’s experiences.
“We are committed to combating the industry-wide problem of scam ads, and continue to invest substantial resources to detect and prevent scams and scam ads on our platforms.”
Sign up to Guardian Australia’s Morning Mail
Our Australian morning briefing email breaks down the key national and international stories of the day and why they matter
after newsletter promotion
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is currently facing two lawsuits over scam ads. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched a federal case alleging the company had aided and abetted celebrity scam ads.
The ACCC alleges the scam cost one person more than $650,000, while one 77-year-old grandmother lost $80,000 in the investment.
Meta has vowed to defend the case, with a spokesperson last year saying the company had put in a lot of work to detect scam ads.
“We don’t want ads seeking to scam people out of money or mislead people on Facebook – they violate our policies and are not good for our community,” the Meta spokesperson said. “We use technology to detect and block scam ads and work to get ahead of scammers’ attempts to evade our detection systems. We’ve cooperated with the ACCC’s investigation into this matter to date.”
Separately, a criminal court case has been brought against Meta by billionaire Andrew Forrest in Western Australia, alleging the social media company was criminally reckless in allowing the scam ads on its site.
In October last year, Meta conceded the court had jurisdiction, paving the way for the case to continue. A committal hearing is scheduled for 13 January.
Koch, a host of Channel Seven’s Sunrise, also appears to be featured in the latest ads, having posted warnings on Instagram.
“Beware … 2023 and the financial scams keep on coming more than ever,” he said. “They are scams trying to con you by illegally using my image and attributing fictitious comments to me.”
Comment has been sought from the prime minister’s office.