Business & Tech

Austin Facebook Contractor Fired In Bribes Scheme

BuzzFeed News reported the worker was paid thousands of dollars for reactivating banned ads making false claims.

AUSTIN, TX — A contractor for Facebook in Austin was fired after being accused of taking thousands in dollars in bribes to reactivate ads that had been banned after being found in violation of company policies, according to a published report.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the report to BuzzFeed News, although the news site later issued a correction to reflect the person fired was a contractor rather than an employee. The worker was fired after being accused of placing more than $50 million in ads typically making false claims about celebrities, the news site reported. Those ads were related to a scheme that tricked consumers into signing up for pricey monthly subscriptions for products initially marketed as free trials, according to the report.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia told BuzzFeed News the firing yields further evidence of a lack of accountability on such digital platforms along with corruption seemingly endemic to digital advertising markets.

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