Facebook moves HC against order to pay compensation for fraudulent advertisement

Facebook India Online Services and META Platforms Inc have approached the Bombay High Court challenging an order of a consumer redressal commission directing it to pay Rs 25599 to a labourer for nondelivery of a product he purchased online and fraudulent advertisementA Nagpur bench of Justice Manish Pitale on Thursday heard two petitions filed by Facebook India Online Services Pvt Ltd and META Platforms Inc against the order passed by the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission Gondia in June 2022The commission had directed the companies to pay Rs 599 to a person for nondelivery of a product purchased online and Rs 25000 for causing mental agonyJustice Pitale granted a stay on the commissions order but directed Facebook India and META Platforms to deposit the amount with the registry of the high courtThe bench also issued notice to the complainant and posted the matter for further hearing on November 15The commission had passed the order on a complaint filed by Tribhuvan Bhongade a daily wage labourer who claimed that he had seen an advertisement on Facebook by one Marya Studios selling Nike shoes for Rs 599Bhongade stated that he had placed an order for the shoes and made payment using his debit card in September 2020 but he never received the shoes He further claimed that he had tried calling on the customer care number of Marya Studios where a person further duped him of Rs 7568Facebook India and META Platforms advocates Vivek Reddy Soli Cooper and Charuhas Dharmadhikari argued that the commission had passed the order without jurisdiction and that the plaint was not maintainable as the complainants grievance ought to have been raised against Marya Studios which was the company that allegedly duped himThe companies in their pleas claimed that they have immunity in such matters under the provisions of the Information Technology Act pertaining to exemption from liabilityAlso Read Meta to bring in new tools for users to control what they see on InstagramThe petitions further stated that the companies had no role in the transaction and that it had not received any payment from BhongadeFacebook India does not qualify as an ecommerce entity or marketplace ecommerce entity since it does not provide a platform for electronic commerce and hence it cannot be held liable it statedBhongade in his complaint filed before the commission had claimed that Facebook in connivance with other people was running a scam and duping people through such false misleading and fraudulent advertisementsBhongade had sought a compensation of Rs 127568 for the agony he facedThe commission in its order had directed Facebook to refund Rs 599 to Bhongade and also pay him Rs 25000 for mental agony and directed the company to run scamrelated awareness advertisements on a regular basis to avoid such incidentsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever