Report: A Facebook Employee Accepted Bribes To Restore Banned Accounts

There’s no denying that Facebook has a substantial problem with scammers and fake ads on its platform. However, part of the issue may be coming from within Facebook itself. According to an explosive report this week in Buzzfeed News, a Facebook contractor was paid thousands of dollars in bribes from a shady advertiser to reactivate banned accounts.

The Facebook contractor, based in Austin, Texas, was paid an initial fee of $5,000 by Ads Inc. to reactivate ad accounts that had been shut down due to violations. “I would basically be ‘playing dumb’ and reenabling by ‘accident,’” the contractor allegedly told the marketing firm. Ads Inc. has previously been linked to a massive scam that placed more than $50 million worth of ads that made false claims about celebrities.

For its part, Facebook fired the contractor after being informed of the Buzzfeed News report. The company also said that it’s investigating additional allegations that there are multiple moles within Facebook accepting these bribes.

“This behavior is absolutely prohibited under our policies and the individual is no longer working with Facebook,” a Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider. “We’re continuing to investigate the allegations and will take any further necessary action.”

More than anything, this report illustrates that Facebook is simply too big to police itself, and that the platform may always have a problem with scams no matter what it does.




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