Japan court dismisses suit against Meta over scam ads using billionaire’s likeness

TOKYO, Nov 10 — A Tokyo court dismissed today Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa’s lawsuit against US tech giant Meta and its Japan unit over the use of his name and image in fraudulent investment ads on their platforms.

Online fraudsters commonly use Maezawa’s name and picture without his permission to lure victims. One typical advert captions his image: “Started with 10,000 yen (RM256). Gained 1.3 million yen in four days.”

Maezawa, the founder of Japan’s largest online clothing retailer, filed the lawsuit in 2024, saying Meta was “not making efforts” to stop the incidents.

He said at the time he sought to “clarify whether their actions are legal or not” and demanded just one yen in damages.

Meta argued that unidentified posters had placed the advertisements and said the company had no obligation to constantly monitor content in order to detect and remove rights-infringing material, according to public broadcaster NHK.

The Tokyo District Court today “turned down the plaintiff’s claims”, a court spokesman told AFP.

The ruling was made on the grounds that Meta “is merely a platform operator and was not directly involved in the posting of the ads”, private broadcaster TBS reported.

The court, however, acknowledged Maezawa’s publicity rights and portrait rights had been infringed, TBS said.

Neither Maezawa nor Meta could immediately be reached for comment on the ruling.

But Maezawa’s lawyer told reporters after the decision that “the number of scam ads has not decreased, and even now we are detecting a considerable number of scam ads featuring Mr. Maezawa”.

“With this ruling, I’m worried we’ll end up with a society where people think, ‘So in the end, even if you fight in court, it’s useless,’ and quietly resign themselves to their losses,” the lawyer said, according to TBS. — AFP