Purchased Facebook Fans misleading?

Is an entrepreneur permitted to purchase Fans, "Followers" and/or "Likes" for his profiles on social networks, or does this constitute misleading of traffic and thus unfair competition advertising? The Regional Court (LG) Stuttgart had to decide this question in the context of an application for a preliminary injunction.

A newly established company had managed to obtain several thousand "Likes" for its newly created Facebook profile of its corporate page within a few months.

This made a competitor suspicious, who discovered that the fans were largely persons from countries in which the competing company was not active at all. It was therefore obvious that the entrepreneur had acquired the "Likes" on his Facebook profile for payment.

The competitor considered this to be misleading and thus also unfair competition and issued a cease and desist notice to the competitor. The competitor refused to issue a legally binding declaration of discontinuance, so the competitor applied to the LG Stuttgart for cessation of advertising with the purchased "Likes".

Decision of the Court

By judgment of 06.08.2014, the 37th Chamber for Commercial Matters of the Regional Court (LG) Stuttgart (Az. 37 O 34/14 KfH) prohibited the competitor from advertising in commercial dealings by means of purchased "Fans"/"Likes" or "Likes" on the internet platform Facebook and thereby creating the impression that these persons clicked the "Like button" because they liked the company or the products of the respondent.

The LG Stuttgart saw in the purchase of fans a misleading advertisement, since the "Likes" in traffic create the impression that they like the company and/or the company's products. However, this is not the case with purchased fans, "Likes" and "Followers".

Conclusion

Advertising with "Likes", fans or "Followers" on social media platforms functions as an effective advertising showcase for the reputation, quality and standing of a company. This purchased reputation can create considerable advantages in competition and is therefore only justified if these expressions of interest were acquired honestly.