To people who ask us why we don’t allow software that helps automate engagement, this is why:
Today we filed separate lawsuits in Europe and the United States to enforce our Terms of Service against the use of unauthorized automation software on Facebook and Instagram.
This is one of the first times a social media company is using coordinated, multi-jurisdictional litigation to enforce its Terms and protect its users. The defendants in the European lawsuit operated a Spain-based fake engagement service, and the defendant in the US lawsuit operated a data scraping service with ties to California.
These lawsuits also allege the defendants violated the laws of Spain and the US, including Spain’s protections for databases and online platforms and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the US. We are seeking injunctions to reinforce our permanent ban against their use of our platform.
Facebook Inc. and Facebook Ireland sued MGP25 Cyberint Services and its founder in the commercial court of Madrid for providing automation software to distribute fake likes and comments on Instagram. The defendant’s service was designed to evade Instagram’s restrictions against fake engagement by mimicking the official Instagram app in the way that it connected to our systems. The defendants did this for profit, and continued to do so even after we sent a Cease and Desist letter and disabled their accounts.
Read more: Taking Legal Action Against Those Who Abuse Our Services | Meta
A too long, didn’t read version:
Last night, Facebook threw a coordinated (and global) legal attack on providers of fake engagement software, scrapers, and virtually anything that ruins the user experience for their members. They didn’t only go for bigger guys, the article hints that they’re capable of going single individuals.
Conclusion
SWAPD will never endorse or accept anything that dabbles in automation/fake engagement. It just ruins the plafroms and brings nothing of value. We’ve literally denied a large monthly advertising offer (XXXX digits) three days ago from a company that created some mass DM spamming tool. No, not in our house. If you dabble in this business, you should know very well that FB constantly goes after such tool creators, I see this almost every year.