Facebook sues Indian techie for running deceptive ads, fake news on coronavirus

Facebook has filed a lawsuit against an Indian man for running a software company that pushed deceptive advertisements and misinformation about the coronavirus outbreak on social media platforms by bypassing its advertising review process.

The suit, filed in federal court in California, alleges that Basant Gajjar’s company LeadCloak provided ad-cloaking software designed to sneak fake news and scams related to Covid-19, cryptocurrency, diet pills and more, past Facebook and Instagram’s automated advertising review process.

Using the name LeadCloak, Gajjar, who is said to be based in Thailand, violated Facebook Terms and Policies by providing cloaking software and services designed to circumvent automated ad review systems, and ultimately run deceptive ads on Facebook and Instagram, Jessica Romero, Director of Platform Enforcement and Litigation at Facebook said in a statement.