Eddie McGuire has vowed to undergo a legal battle with Facebook after a spoof ad promoting erectile dysfunction medication circulated social media.
A fake advertisement created by Tryvexan, an erectile dysfunction treatment available to purchase online, crafted this spoof campaign attempting to appear as an online article by well known publication GQ. The article featured McGuire endorsing the product, even inserting personal ‘quotes’ on his behalf.
“I’ve tried Viagra, I’ve tried Red Ginseng, I’ve tried Cialis. TryVexan blows them all away.” the article read.
Outraged, McGuire and his team of lawyers are now slamming Facebook in the bid to hold the platform accountable for posting the defamatory content, claiming the campaign is fake news and falsely suggests he suffers from erectile dysfunction.
A letter to Facebook from McGuire’s lawyers directly targets Facebook’s advertising policy and its review of sponsored content. McGuire is keen to see the social media mogul take responsibility for hosting the advertisement and would like to see them review their internal business models.
“It’s not only fake news, it’s actually defamatory, and it’s incorrect …” McGuire said on Triple M.
“Let’s go after them and let’s get Facebook.”
“Is it a publisher? They are now into news, they have Facebook news, they promulgate themselves as an upstanding citizen, it’s one of the biggest companies in the world — what are the requirements for them to not defame people?”
“I’ve got a big appetite to chase this one.”
The legal battle with the brand responsible for the campaign would be black and white according to defamation lawyer Justin Quill, if it were within an Australian legal jurisdiction. A call made to the Tryvexan helpline lead the team to discover the headquarters reside in Salt Lake City in the United States and a series of domain names linked to the company have been registered in Panama.
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