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USD873M Judgment Against Facebook Spammer Upheld by Quebec Court
Adam Guerbuez, a Montreal man who sent more than 4 million spam e-mails to Facebook users over a two-month period, was ordered to pay Facebook USD$873 million in compensation. Facebook had alleged that Mr. Guerbuez conned users into giving up their usernames and passwords, and used that information to hack into accounts to send out millions of unsolicited advertising messages via Facebook.
A California court fined Mr. Guerbuez USD$100 for each spam message sent, in addition to another USD$100 in damages. The total amounted to approximately USD$873 million. He was also banned from opening a Facebook account.
Mr. Guerbuez filed an appeal in his home province of Quebec on the grounds that the amount of the fine was so disproportionate as compared to the amount of monetary damages suffered by Facebook, as well as against public order.
It is unlikely that Facebook would ever receive the money, as Mr. Guerbuez has filed for bankruptcy. However, Facebook has stated that the goal was to provide “a powerful deterrent to anyone and everyone who would seek to abuse Facebook and its users.
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