Metas attempt to evade legal responsibility for a billionaires fraudulent cryptocurrency advertisement lawsuit is unsuccessful

Meta Platform’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Australian mining tycoon Andrew Forrest has been rejected by a US judge. The lawsuit alleges that Facebook ads featuring deepfake images of Forrest were used to promote fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes. California District Judge Casey Pitts ruled that Forrest could re-file his suit and attempt to prove that Meta’s negligence in failing to prevent the scam ads violated its duty to operate in a commercially reasonable manner. Meta argued that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protected it from liability as a publisher of third-party content, but Judge Pitts determined that Meta had not definitively established this defense. This is the first time a social media company has failed to use Section 230 immunity as a defense against civil liability for its advertising business, according to Forrest. The amended lawsuit can now try to prove that Meta misappropriated Forrest’s name and likeness and that Meta played an active role in creating the ads. In April, Australian prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Meta related to the deepfake crypto scam ads due to insufficient evidence. Forrest’s net worth is estimated at $16.6 billion.