Meta Files Lawsuit Over Fake Review Service

<p>Meta &&num;8212&semi; the parent company of Facebook&comma; Instagram and Whatsapp &&num;8212&semi; has filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Chad Taylor Cowan for breach of Terms and other claims for providing a fake engagement service directed at Facebook&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Operating as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>Customer Feedback Score Solutions&comma;”<&sol;i> and using the website <i>cfs&period;solutions<&sol;i>&comma; Cowan provided fake reviews and feedback for businesses to artificially increase the Facebook Customer Feedback Score and evade Meta’s detection and enforcement against misleading ads&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meta says it <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;facebook&period;com&sol;business&sol;m&sol;one-sheeters&sol;how-customer-feedback-affects-facebook-advertisers">analyzes feedback<&sol;a> on an ongoing basis to understand people’s experiences on its technologies&period; As a part of this work&comma; some people receive surveys after clicking on ads to help understand whether the quality of the product they purchased met their expectations&comma; the shipping was timely&comma; and to learn more about their customer service experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This survey data&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;facebook&period;com&sol;business&sol;help&sol;108127923199330">along with other information<&sol;a>&comma; informs a business’ Customer Feedback Score&period; If a business receives a significant amount of negative feedback&comma; the company may take a number of enforcement measures&comma; which could include ad restrictions&comma; financial penalties or disabling accounts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In this particular case&comma; in exchange for payment&comma; Cowan used a network of fraudulent and hired Facebook user accounts to provide fake customer reviews to artificially increase Customer Feedback Scores&comma; drown out and minimize negative reviews&comma; and avoid enforcement&period; Meta said these actions create poor experiences for people who see these ads&comma; deceptively influencing and misleading our community&period; This is also a direct violation of Meta’s <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;facebook&period;com&sol;policies&lowbar;center">Terms<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;facebook&period;com&sol;policies&sol;ads&sol;">Advertising<&sol;a> and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;facebook&period;com&sol;policies&lowbar;center&sol;pages&lowbar;groups&lowbar;events&sol;">Page<&sol;a> Policies&comma; as well as California law&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Through this lawsuit&comma; Meta seeks damages and injunctive relief for Cowan’s violation of Terms and Policies&comma; and to stop fake reviews on its technologies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;