The defendants allegedly used the accounts to run ads thaFacebook is suing a Hong Kong–based company and two Chinese citizens it says used malware to compromise user accounts in order to run millions of dollars of deceptive Facebook ads that often featured celebrities.
The company filed the federal lawsuit Thursday in California against ILikeAd Media International Company, Chen Xiao Cong, and Huang Tao. Facebook alleges that Cong, of Wuhan, Hubei province, China, developed the malware, while Tao, who is based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China, was responsible for the “distrt often misused the images of celebrities to sell “counterfeit goods and diet pills.”