“Facebook and Meta Facing Class Action Lawsuit for Allowing Fraudulent Ads, According to Quebec Residents”

For Fernand Larouche and Johanne Gauthier, this approach is the last hope of recovering the savings of a lifetime. For their lawyer, David Bourgoin, it would be a first in the country.

Lawyer David Bourgoin did neither one nor two after seeing the testimonies of Fernand Larouche and Johanne Gauthier at The bill on March 28, then to Decryptors a few days later.

Outraged by the astronomical losses of the two plaintiffs, he set to work with the aim of filing a request for authorization of a class action as soon as possible against Facebook and its parent company Meta. Fernand Larouche and Johanne Gauthier quickly agreed to act as representatives.

These people have lost everything in connection with advertisements that they should never have seen. I thought it was nonsense that social media managers could not be held liable for the damage that is caused. There has to be a responsibility somewhereargues the lawyer.

Their motion has just been filed in court in Montreal and served on Facebook Canada Ltd as well as Meta Platforms and Facebook Inc.

The plaintiffs allege that the defendants are advertisers and that the sale and distribution of advertisements constitute their main source of income. In their opinion, the multinational has contravened several provisions of the Consumer Protection Act and the Competition Act by allowing false or fraudulent advertising to be delivered to its users.

This approach is similar to the legal proceedings undertaken by the Australian authorities against Meta, for the same reasons.

The show team Decryptors, which tracks false information on social networks, has documented the presence of these fraudulent ads on Facebook aimed specifically at Canadians. She counted hundreds as part of her investigation last year. A year later, she found just as many.

These advertisements lead to fake newspaper articles, with the logos of The Press or CBC, among others, and often feature the big boss of Tesla. Very recently, the images of the host of Everybody talks about it, Guy A. Lepage, and that of Economy zoneGérald Fillion, have also been used by fraudsters.

Asked about this, Meta told us that it was impossible to completely eradicate fraud on its platforms, but that it devoted considerable resources to it.

The story of Johanne Gauthier and Fernand Larouche

The financial dramas of Fernand Larouche and Johanne Gauthier have been the subject of recent reports on broadcasts The bill et Decryptors. The two retirees lost around $1,000,000 and $250,000 respectively after they were unlucky enough to click on a fraudulent ad that appeared on their Facebook feed touting cryptocurrency returns.

After leaving their details on this page, they received a call from a fake financial adviser who gained their trust and encouraged them to invest more. It was then impossible for them to get their money back. The company, the financial adviser, the returns: everything was wrong from A to Z.

Fernand Larouche and Johanne Gauthier lost everything in this scam and had to return to the job market. They filed a complaint with the Gatineau police, their place of residence at the time of the tragedy.

Johanne Gauthier hopes that this approach will encourage other victims of these advertisements to come out of the shadows despite the feeling of guilt that often inhabits them. She also wants legal proceedings to have an impact on the vigilance of social networks in terms of fraudulent advertising. I think social media, before running ads like this, will think twiceshe says.

Johanne Gauthier clicked on an advertisement similar to this one.

Photo: Screenshot

The group, for which Johanne Gauthier and Fernand Larouche act as representatives, includes people who have suffered financial loss due to fraudulent advertisements posted on Facebook. Lawyer David Bourgoin also invites anyone who fits this definition to contact him by phone or email to provide him with information.

Under the class action claim, the plaintiffs seek reimbursement of the amounts lost, as well as punitive damages and damages for trouble, trouble and inconvenience suffered.

Me David Bourgoin is convinced that the procedure will be able to pass the authorization test and then be heard on the merits. However, he is aware that the case is far from won and he expects his arguments to be highly contested.

By email, Meta declined to comment on this class action request.