The District Court of Western Australia has dismissed the lawsuit filed by Australian mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest against Meta. Forrest had accused Meta of allowing scam crypto advertisements featuring his image to cause significant losses for unsuspecting individuals. However, prosecutors determined that there was insufficient evidence to support Forrest’s claims.
Forrest, who serves as the chairman of Fortescue Metals and is the second-wealthiest person in Australia, personally initiated criminal charges against Meta in February 2022 under the Commonwealth Criminal Code Anti-Money Laundering sections. He alleged that the social media giant “knowingly profits from this cycle of illegal ads” and failed to remove them. Prior to filing the suit, Forrest obtained approval from the Australian attorney general.
Back in November 2019, Forrest sent an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, urging the company, which operates platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, to remove fraudulent advertisements and prevent the misuse of his image.
Meta pleaded not guilty to the charges in December 2023. A spokesperson for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed that the lawsuit was dropped due to a lack of evidence. However, no additional details were provided. In response, Forrest released a statement to The Guardian expressing his disappointment with the outcome.
A spokesperson for Meta told Reuters that the company is committed to preventing scams on its platforms and will continue to work diligently to protect its users.
Despite Forrest’s legal action against Meta, scam advertisements featuring his image have continued to surface. In February, Cybertrace discovered deep-fake images of Forrest in ads on Facebook. Additionally, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, filed a lawsuit against two individuals in China on April 4, claiming that they were responsible for scam applications that had been downloaded over 100,000 times from the platform.
Meanwhile, in June 2022, Forrest filed a civil suit against Meta in the California Northern District Court. The suit included six counts and alleged that “Facebook’s self-help advertising interface materially helped scammers develop” the fraudulent ads. However, Meta filed a motion to dismiss the case in January.
As Forrest’s legal battles with Meta continue, the issue of scam advertisements remains a concern. Despite efforts to combat them, they persist, posing a threat to unsuspecting individuals.