Meta, owner of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, this week started two lawsuits in São Paulo against companies that sell engagement to social media users.
Services that promise likes, followers and views on Instagram constitute false engagement and, according to the company, are practices that violate the terms of use.
The companies sued are MGM Marketing Digital Ltd and Igoo Networks. Representatives of the companies were not located by the report. The shares have already been distributed and are being processed in the corporate and arbitration disputes courts.
They work, according to Meta, through artificial engagement services under names such as “InstaBrasil”, “InstaCurtidas”, “SMM Revenda”, “Seguidoresgram” and “Seguidores Brasil”.
report of Sheet de Maio showed how companies specializing in engagement selling, known as platforms or click farms, operate. A pack of 1,000 Instagram likes, for example, can be purchased for R$0.60. At the other end, websites pay workers from R$0.001 to R$0.05 to perform each of the interactions, designated as tasks.
According to Meta, this is the first time the company has taken legal action in Brazil to bar this type of negotiation involving its brands. In addition to the two lawsuits, the group also sent out-of-court notices to 40 other companies that offered similar services for Instagram and Facebook.
“This is part of the company’s coordinated and jurisdictional litigation efforts to enforce its terms and protect users,” the company says in a statement signed by Chief Legal Officer Jessica Romero.
Instagram’s intention is to get the owners of these businesses permanently banned from their platforms. The owner of the social network defends, in the lawsuits, that in addition to the violation of the terms of use by the use of unauthorized automation, there is a violation of Brazilian legislation.
“Defendants promoted the sale of fake Instagram followers, likes and views and used unauthorized automation. In addition, some of the services requested the login credentials of Instagram users,” Meta says.
The accounts of companies identified as engagement negotiators would have already been deactivated on the platforms.
On Wednesday (10), Judge Luis Felipe Ferrari Benendi, who is responding for the 1st and 2nd Business and Arbitration Courts, ordered the notification of MGM Marketing Digital and Igoo Networks and, “considering the seriousness of the allegations and the nature of the requests formulated”, asked the companies to manifest themselves before deciding on the preliminary injunction made by Meta. The deadline is five days.
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