Facebook staffer SACKED after taking ‘thousands’ in bribes to reactivate banned accounts
A FACEBOOK worker accepted thousands of pounds worth of bribes to restore banned accounts.
The unnamed contractor based at an office in Texas has been fired for accepting cash from a shady marketing agency, Facebook confirmed.
US firm Ads Inc. reportedly paid the employee as much as £6,000 ($8,000) to reactivate its accounts after they were shut down for violating Facebook's policies earlier this year.
The company was caught paying to display deceptive ads on thousands of personal Facebook accounts, a investigation found.
The crooked practice is used by some companies to get around Facebook's rules on advertising.
Ads Inc, based in San Diego, paid users up to £22 a month to have adverts plastered over their pages.
The firm reportedly then sold them on to other market research firms for as much as £600.
After Facebook banned the offending accounts to put a stop to Ads Inc's dodgy dealings, the firm paid a Facebook employee to restore them.
"This behaviour is absolutely prohibited under our policies and the individual is no longer working with Facebook," a Facebook spokesperson told The Sun.
"We're continuing to investigate the allegations and will take any further necessary action."
Facebook adverts placed by Ads Inc. typically made false claims about celebrities and were part of an elaborate scam.
The scheme tricked users into sign up for dubious free trials that led to costly monthly subscriptions once used for a week or more.
What info does Facebook hold on you?
- All the data on your profile - name, age, marital status, where you went to work, and so on.
- Your activity on the site - which posts you like, pages followed, photos shared.
- Its tracker cookies (which most websites use) can even follow you around the internet, so Facebook can also get an idea of the types of websites you like to visit – to serve you more relevant advertisements.
The posts resembled news from popular media companies but often made up key information, Buzzfeed reported.
Ads Inc. allegedly placed around £38million in the fraudulent adverts.
A former Ads Inc. employee claimed that several Facebook employees were on the payroll at any one time.
"To be honest there were a few people that would flip ads back on," they told BuzzFeed News.
"Moles" were paid an initial £3,800 fee followed by a possible £2,300 monthly retainer to continue reactivating accounts.
Ads Inc. was shut down in October following an earlier investigation into its practices by Buzzfeed.
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