Illegal Online Advertising JOA’s Meta Quest
JOA Group, France’s second-largest licensed casino operator, has initiated multiple legal proceedings against Meta following a wave of unauthorised online gambling advertisements that falsely use JOA’s branding.
Since late 2023, the JOA Group has identified nearly a thousand infringing ads promoted on Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Meta Audience Network, by fake accounts that impersonated the JOA brand.
Tese ads, which were all sponsored content, suggested that JOA was offering an online casino application, a form of gambling that is strictly prohibited in France outside of state-authorised activities such as lotteries, poker, and sports betting. Te publications not only infringed on JOA’s registered trademarks but misled consumers and violated French gambling regulations.
Despite alerting Meta to the issue, JOA found that the only recourse offered by the platform was its internal “Brand Rights Protection” tool, which requires manual reporting by the rights holder. Trough its own investigations, JOA documented over six million views of illegal ads tied to more than 60 fake accounts.
In response, the group has launched a series of legal actions. A criminal complaint was filed in December 2023, citing trademark infringement, identity theft, the illegal offering and advertising of gambling, and misleading commercial conduct. Tis investigation is still ongoing.
In parallel, JOA pursued civil action. In May 2025, the Paris Judicial Court ruled in JOA’s favour following interim proceedings, ordering Meta to implement ad-blocking measures across its platforms in France and the EU. Te ruling also required Meta to retain account data and to pay JOA €30,000 in legal costs and provisional damages.
A request for an expedited trial was denied, but a broader case on the merits is now underway. In this action, JOA is seeking €800,000 in
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economic damages, €100,000 for non-material harm, and five years of court-ordered ad filtering and blocking. Te company is also demanding full financial disclosure from Meta to assess potential revenues gained through the promotion of the illegal content. Te first hearing is scheduled for December 4, 2025.
JOA is not alone in its efforts. Fellow French casino groups Groupe Lucien Barrière and Groupe Partouche have also launched proceedings against Meta in response to similar impersonations and unauthorised gambling advertisements. Te cases reflect growing industry concern over the unchecked spread of illegal content on digital platforms and the perceived inadequacy of platform-level enforcement.
G3 spoke to JOA Group CEO, Laurent Lassiaz, regarding the enforcement action taken against Meta.
Laurent, what prompted JOA to pursue legal action against Meta, and what were your initial expectations from the platform when the infringing ads were discovered?
Te situation was becoming totally intolerable. Despite our reports on the Meta platform, posts impersonating our brand and promoting illegal websites in France kept multiplying at a very high pace. Our initial expectation was simply for the posts to stop.
How has the impersonation of JOA’s brand and the unauthorised promotion of online casinos impacted JOA's business operations and reputation?
Tese advertisements have garnered more than six million views, and have therefore, had a wide reach. Tese publications convey, in the
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