Meta fined 10,000 euros per day for fake Barrière ads
•
16 Sep 2024 •
Reading time: 2 minutes French casino company Barrière has been fighting tech giant Meta (the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) for almost a year. And now a French judge has fined Meta 10,000 euros for every day they continue to show fake ads using Barrière’s name without permission.
Meta must pay if they don’t stop fake ads
In April, the court already decided that Meta had to stop distributing fake ads that abused Barrière’s brand name and the image of their casinos and employees. But Meta apparently didn’t care much about that.
That’s why the judge has now said: for every day you don’t stop, you will pay 10,000 euros. They have one month to put this right, otherwise the fines will start to increase.
This news was announced last Wednesday by Barrière itself. The new ruling was made on September 10th and gives Meta another chance to appeal, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to avoid this fine.
False advertisements put Barrière in trouble
The whole thing started almost a year ago when fake advertisements appeared online that made it seem as if Barrière was involved in illegal online casinos. People who clicked on the advertisements were redirected to gambling sites that are banned in France. This not only damaged Barrière’s image, but also landed the company in legal trouble.
In January, Meta Ireland (where their European headquarters are located) already received an initial conviction, but they appealed. In April, the judge again confirmed that Meta was wrong. For Barrière, this new ruling is a victory, because according to them it proves that “even large companies like Meta must comply with the law.”
The battle is not over yet
In addition to the fine that Meta is now facing, a criminal investigation has also been launched into the people responsible for creating these false advertisements.