A UK journalist is suing Facebook for defamation over fake ads
A high-profile British journalist and entrepreneur has announced he plans to sue Facebook for defamation over fake adverts published on the site.
Martin Lewis, founder of consumer help site MoneySavingExpert.com, announced he's issuing High Court proceedings for a "campaigning defamation lawsuit against Facebook."
According to a statement, Facebook "has published over 50 fake Martin Lewis adverts," which he claims are "regularly seen, likely by millions of people" in the UK. The "scam" adverts feature "big pictures" of Lewis alongside his name, and a "raft of false promises or endorsements," and some link to fake articles.
“Enough is enough. I’ve been fighting for over a year to stop Facebook letting scammers use my name and face to rip off vulnerable people – yet it continues," Lewis said in a statement. "I feel sick each time I hear of another victim being conned because of trust they wrongly thought they were placing in me. One lady had over £100,000 taken from her."
Lewis said that he had told Facebook that he doesn't "do adverts," adding that he's asked the social network "not to publish them," or to "check their legitimacy."
"This shouldn’t be difficult – after all, it’s a leader in face and text recognition. Yet it simply continues to repeatedly publish these adverts and then relies on me to report them, once the damage has been done," says Lewis.
A Facebook spokesperson told Mashable that they had "explained to Martin Lewis that he should report any adverts that infringe his rights," and the ads "will be removed."
"We are in direct contact with his team, offering to help and promptly investigating their requests, and only last week confirmed that several adverts and accounts that violated our Advertising Policies had been taken down," the spokesperson continued.
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But, according to Lewis' statement, reporting these ads hasn't really helped.
“Even when they are reported, many have been left up for days or weeks. And finally, when they are taken down the scammers just launch a new, nearly identical campaign very soon afterwards and the whole rigmarole starts again," says Lewis.
His lawyers are seeking exemplary damages, and Lewis says he plans to donate any money paid to him to anti-scam charities.
Topics Facebook
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
