Facebook’s Libra has not even officially rolled out, yet there are already fake outlets springing up.
The social media giant is now compelled to address a growing number of fabricated exchanges associated with its digital asset, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday (July 23).
A growing list of websites, as well as Facebook pages and groups, claim to sell Libra tokens on Facebook and Instagram.
The fake communications reportedly feature Facebook’s logo, branding, photos of Mark Zuckerberg or Libra’s official marketing imagery.
“Facebook removes ads and pages that violate our policies when we become aware of them, and we are constantly working to improve detection of scams on our platforms,” a spokeswoman said in a statement to the news outlet.
Facebook’s inability to detect the circulation of fraudsters could further discredit Libra and generate even more distrust as regulators investigate the proposed global currency.
David Marcus, Facebook’s head of blockchain projects, testified before the Senate Banking Committee on July 16 to offer an explanation and defense of the controversial Libra cryptocurrency project. Marcus faced a barrage of questions, some of which were rather complex and involved.
However, Facebook did have a few conditional supporters at the hearing, or at least those interested in discussing issues other than how little they trust Facebook to build a currency of any kind.
The Libra ecosystem consists of new rails, the Libra blockchain, built by Facebook engineers. It also introduces a new programming language, Move, designed to make it more efficient and secure. Libra’s value would be tied to low-volatility currencies, including the dollar, the pound sterling and the euro, and would be held in reserve in Geneva, Switzerland.
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