Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms Inc. will face fresh lawsuits in Japan over advertisements that fraudulently solicited investment funds with fake endorsements from celebrities, local media reported on Wednesday.

Around 30 plaintiffs will seek at least 300 million yen (about 2 million U.S. dollars) from the US. technology giant and its Japanese arm, arguing they failed to do enough to prevent the scams, Kyodo News reported, citing lawyers for the plaintiffs.

The damages suits will be filed with five district courts across the country, including Saitama, Chiba and Osaka, the report said.

Online fashion retailer

Among the names of noted people used in the adverts are Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, founder of online fashion retailer Zozo Inc., the report said. The plaintiffs viewed the fake advertisements before being directed to transfer money to designated investment accounts, the lawyers said, arguing that Meta is obliged to investigate the content of adverts and not allow them to be posted on social media if it can foresee the risk of harm to users. Meta was sued earlier this year in a similar suit filed in Kobe by a group of four people.

The company is seeking dismissal of the damages claim of 23 million yen (150,500 dollars).    Meta ranks among the largest American information technology companies, alongside other Big Five corporations Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. The company was ranked 31 on the Forbes Global 2000 ranking in 2023.

Development worldwide

In 2022, Meta was the company with the third-highest expenditure on research and development worldwide, with Research and Development (R&D) expenditure amounting to $35.3 billion