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If you defraud people of money, you will likely be caught, arrested, face court and receive some kind of penalty for your offending.
Unless, you are a huge social media company.
If you're Facebook or YouTube, you have a get-out-of-jail-free card that seems to give you total immunity from any kind of penalty or sanction, no matter how many people lose money as a result of your actions or inactions.
How is this able to happen?
Are we seeing a two-tier justice system based on size or wealth?
What am I talking about?
Start by reading RNZ report which details how fraudsters are using an AI rendition of a Catholic Bishop to dupe unsuspecting victims into parting with their hard-earned cash.
On this occasion, the scam is being conducted through Facebook.
The key element of this story is the statement that:
"I sent a message to Facebook saying that somebody was impersonating me, and, as usual, Facebook, they don't think I'm being impersonated."
This is a pretty normal response, from both Facebook and YouTube. I have reported similar scams to YouTube and they have done NOTHING about it. Famous local faces have repeatedly been used in AI-generated videos to hawk bogus diets, supplements and other frauds yet these social media giants seem happy to keep taking money from advertisers engaged in this dishonesty.
Surely this makes these corporations accomplices to the crime?
If you or I were instrumental in knowingly aiding and abetting someone engaged in a criminal activity, we would face the courts and censure for our offending. Apparently that's not the case if you're a huge US-based social media corporation.
I wish someone could explain how this fits into what is supposed to be a justice system.
The fact that money buys privilege is now so common and entrenched in our society that it seldom even elicits comment should be a huge worry to all of us.
Elon Musk took $250m from people back in 2017 on the promise that they would receive the new Tesla Roadster in a year or so's time. Now it's 2025 and those people still havent' received their cars or, when requested, a refund.
If it was anyone other than Elon Musk who clearly failed to honour the promises made when soliciting the money, they would be in jail right now for fraud -- just ask Elizabeth Holmes how that works.
However, when you're rich enough and famous enough -- the laws apparently don't apply to you.
My biggest concern isn't that this is happening but that we are allowing it to happen. Through OUR acceptance of these dual standards, we are endorsing them and allowing them to continue.
We are idiots, all of us.
Carpe Diem folks!
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