The Brazilian Attorney General's Office has requested a public civil action to adopt measures to prevent the misuse of federal government symbols and trademarks, as well as images and videos of public authorities.

The Brazilian Attorney General's Office (AGU) announced Monday that it has sued the technology and social media conglomerate Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, for fraudulent advertising on its social media platforms.

The AGU has filed a civil action to take measures to prevent the misuse of federal government symbols and marks, as well as images and videos of public officials, according to a statement posted on its website.

As he noted, at least 1,770 fraudulent ads have been identified that "were published with the aim of carrying out financial scams against consumers using these networks." "The posts improperly used symbols of official bodies and images of authorities," he added.

The company also stated that the platforms' advertising verification system "is inefficient" and "even contrary to the platform's own terms of use." It requests that the company be awarded collective moral damages for violating legal consumer protection regulations.

On the other hand, the agency has requested information on the monetary amount obtained from the broadcast of all the fraudulent ads—aired between January 10 and 21—and that the company be ordered to allocate that amount to a broadcast rights fund.