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Meta once pursued the creation of a digital currency called Libra, but posts on Facebook and Instagram advertising investment opportunities with an app of the same name are not legitimate. The company sold its cryptocurrency project in 2022, and the ads appear to be dubbed with fabricated audio.
“Libra is a one-of-a-kind program that uses AI to operate on the stock exchange,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to say in a clip posted to Facebook on November 12, 2023.
The ad features images of stacked Canadian dollars and lauds the supposed benefits of an investment app called Libra. The post encourages users to share their personal information to participate in the program.
Screenshot of a Facebook post taken December 13, 2023
Screenshot of a Facebook post taken December 13, 2023
The Facebook page that published the video was created November 6 and bears the same name as the supposed investment app.
A keyword search of Meta’s Ad Library reveals scores of similar active and inactive ads on Instagram and Facebook. Many of the pages behind the promotions also launched within the past two months.
Screenshot of the Meta Ad Library taken December 13, 2023The ads link to websites that solicit personal information and do not appear to be connected to Meta.
A reverse image search reveals many of the Zuckerberg cameos come from a 2021 video announcing the launch of Meta as the umbrella company for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other brands (archived here). The two-year-old clip does not mention Libra or investment apps.
Screenshot of a Facebook post taken December 13, 2023, with elements highlighted by AFP
Screenshot of a YouTube video taken December 13, 2023, with elements highlighted by AFP
AFP contacted Meta for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.
Libra project discontinued
Facebook announced its Libra cryptocurrency in 2019. The company developed the technology and then entrusted control of the project, whose name changed to Diem in 2020, to an independent entity based in Geneva.
After pushback from global finance officials, the Facebook-backed Diem Association sold the technology to Silvergate Capital Corporation in January 2022. Silvergate folded one year later.
There have been reports of a new Meta digital currency known internally as “Zuck Bucks,” but the idea had not been publicly announced as of December 14.
AFP has previously fact-checked fake ads promoting investment apps to Canadians using the likenesses of public figures such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and popular news anchors.
Read more of AFP’s reporting on misinformation in Canada here.
