Here, as ever, we're taking a more passive approach.
The latest controversy kicked-off on November 8, when Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, accusing his company of facilitating cryptocurrency scams that used Forrest's image without his permission.
"You have the power and the technology to prevent these scam advertisements from running on your platform," Forrest wrote.
"Is revenue more important to you than the life savings of elderly people, Mr Zuckerberg?"
Facebook said it had taken comprehensive steps against fake ads (see its full statement below), but Forrest disagreed. He called on governments around the world to take action.
Overnight, Australian Competition & Consumer Commission head Rod Sims threw his weight behind Forrest's push.
Sims said the ACCC would investigate both the potential legal exposure of Facebook as a result of it posting fraudulent advertisements, and whether hosting such ads on its platforms should be made illegal.
Forrest was just the latest Australian figure to get caught up in a fake ad campaign. Last August, broadcaster Nine complained to Facebook that it was hosting fake ads featuring Nine News Sydney presenter Deborah Knight and AFL Footy Show host Eddie McGuire and other stars.
Facebook has also faced criticism on this side of the Tasman over promotions it has hosted. Former Prime Minister John Key's image has been used in several fraudulent online ad campaigns, including a December 2017 Bitcoin scam involving a fake Herald website. A variant involving a fake Stuff site followed mid last year.
At the time, Sir John said it was "outrageous" that Facebook had not removed links to a website that included his image and a falsely-attributed quote about bitcoin.
A spokeswoman for the ACCC's sister agency in NZ, the Commerce Commission, said "This is not something the Commission is currently looking into. But we have noted the comments made by the ACCC and will be following the outcome of any investigations they may undertake."
The situation is complicated by the fact that scammers often use posts on Facebook to link to ads posted on other websites.
Even today, Facebook carries links to bitcoin sites using the unauthorised images of Andrew Forrest and others.
A Facebook search by the Herald this morning for "bitcoin Andrew Forrest", for example, returned a link to low-grade bitcoin promotional site, featuring images of Sir Richard Branson and Forrest, smack-bang at the top of its results, if also a post from Forrest decrying fakes at number two.
Facebook also provides an alternative for those who have been blocked from traditional advertising channels. For example, in New Zealand, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled against a Fluoride-Free NZ print ad, promoting a link to Facebook because one of its key lines, "Fluoride is a Neurotoxin that reduces Children's IQ" was unsubstantiated and "socially irresponsible".
But while the ASA's ruling might hold sway in traditional media, Facebook still hosts the fluoride material (along with links to many close variants in various international campaigns).
Facebook responds
Facebook Australia-New Zealand spokesman Benjamin McConaghy said, "We do not allow these scams on our services and we take swift action to remove them as soon as we become aware.
"These scammers use sophisticated cloaking technology to mask content so that it shows different versions to our ad review systems than it does to people. This is a clear violation of our policies as ads must not use tactics intended to circumvent our ad review process or other enforcement systems.
"This is an adversarial issue, and not unique to Facebook, however we're making significant investments in scaled detection technology to prevent these scams.
"We now have more than 35,000 people working on safety and security, and our security budget today is greater than the entire revenue of our company at the time of our IPO.
"We take action to ensure the integrity of our site, this means not just suspending and deleting accounts, pages, and ads, but considering taking further legal action in certain instances against those responsible for violating our rules.
"We've also built additional detection models, specifically for celeb-bait, that automatically incorporate what we have learned about the changing tactics used in ads to help us improve.
"When people report an ad, that information helps us improve our automated detection systems to counter cloaking tactics and make us better. We're exploring how to gather input from people through our external misleading and scam ads reporting form, which is currently being tested in the UK, Australia and New Zealand to help our community to report ads they believe are misleading."
There has been a parallel discussion about politicians making false or outright misleading claims in social media ads, or posts.
Political ads in the gun, too
Twitter recently responded with a ban on all political ads.
Asked if Facebook was considering a moratorium on political ads, McConaghy pointed the Herald to a recent post by Zuckerberg in which the Facebook founder pushes a free speech argument.
"There's a lot at stake here. We are at a cross-roads not only in our own country, but in the future of the global internet as well. China is building its own internet and media ecosystem that's focused on very different values," the Facebook founder posted.
"As these systems compete, the question of which nation's values will determine what speech is allowed for decades to come really puts into perspective the issues we face today. Because while we may disagree on exactly where to draw the line on specific issues, we at least can disagree. That's what free expression is about."
