Alex Webb, Columnist

Zuckerberg Should Take a Leaf Out of the Jeff Bezos Pay Book

Facebook needs to employ more people to stop dodgy ads, such as the ones affecting Martin Lewis.

April 23, 2018 at 12:24 PM UTC

Alex Webb is a correspondent for Bloomberg Quicktake. He previously covered the technology, telecoms and media industries in London, San Francisco and Munich.

1524486860_lewis — Photographer: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

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After the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, Mark Zuckerberg is facing a new nemesis in Britain. Martin Lewis, founder of the popular U.K. personal finance website MoneySavingExpert.com, says he is suing Facebook Inc. for defamation over dozens of unauthorized adverts that use images of him.

As is so often the case, the social media giant's response was pretty shopworn: "We do not allow adverts which are misleading or false on Facebook." This statement is self-evidently misleading and false. If dodgy ads weren't allowed on Facebook, they wouldn't be on Facebook. And they are. But it doesn't stop Facebook from using it repeatedly.