Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest to learn his fate over court battle with Facebook in US

Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest is outraged after his case against Meta suffered a blow in Australia. But the billionaire won’t give up on fighting for scam victims as he fights Facebook in the US.

Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest is expected to learn next month whether his legal insurgency against tech giant Meta on its home turf in California will live to fight another day.

The Fortescue executive chairman is pursuing Mark Zuckerberg’s digital behemoth over scam ads posted on Facebook that used his likeness to fleece Australians of their savings.

Lawyers for both sides squared off in a US federal court in California, as Meta sought to throw out Dr Forrest’s latest claim in a legal battle that has already run for two and a half years.

The overseas court battle comes after Dr Forrest’s case in Western Australia was dropped by the Commonwealth DPP in the District Court on Friday.

The DPP told the court after reviewing a brief of evidence they had decided to discontinue the case.

Dr Forrest said Friday’s decision was a tragedy for innocent parents and grandparents who have lost their life savings.

“It shows that Facebook is beyond the laws of Australia, that hardworking Australians are not protected, and that scams will continue to run rampant with no recourse for those who are duped by increasingly sophisticated technology on social media platforms that take no responsibility,” he said.

Andrew Forrest is expected to learn next month whether his legal battle against tech giant Meta on its home turf in California will live to fight another day.

Twiggy is pursuing Mark Zuckerberg’s digital behemoth over scam ads posted on Facebook that used his likeness to fleece Australians of their savings.

Speaking outside the US hearing, the billionaire’s co-lead counsel Derek G. Howard said he was confident their argument was “well received” by Judge P. Casey Pitts, who is expected to decide in May whether to allow the case to proceed towards a trial.

“Dr Forrest has brought this case to California, the home of Facebook or Meta, to combat these rampant and fraudulent advertisements featuring Dr Forrest,” Mr Howard said.

“If the judge accepts our arguments and the case goes forward, the point that matters – not only to Australia but right around the world – is that Meta will one day have to take responsibility for the ads which they are running on Facebook which have been created by scammers.

Australian billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest has been the victim of five new scam ads published on Meta’s platforms every single day. Supplied

“And eventually Meta will have to take actions to take these ads down,” Mr Howard said.

“It’s important that Dr Forrest wins this case because everyday Australians are damaged financially by fraudulent ads. They are getting involved based on false use of Dr. Forrest’s image where his likeness is seen to be endorsing an ad which he has never seen and definitely not approved.”

Meta’s defence hinges on a 1996 US law that prevents online platforms being held liable for third-party content such as advertisements that are posted on their sites.

An example of a scam ad published on Meta’s platforms. Supplied

“We are contending that Meta doesn’t have the right to claim total immunity from everything that appears on their platform,” Mr Howard said.

“We believe that the entire law … should be modified now to reflect that the internet has greatly changed since 1996.”

Lawyers for Meta argued in a court filing to have Dr Forrest’s claim dismissed that the law should “bar (the) plaintiff’s lawsuit in its entirety”, particularly as there was “no allegation that Meta materially contributed to the purported unlawfulness of the scam ads at issue”.

The tech giant’s lawyers also argued that the statute of limitations had expired on the billionaire’s case, given he had been aware since 2014 of his image being misused in the scam ads on Facebook.

The ACCC is also pursuing a similar case against the social media giant.

Originally published as Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest to learn his fate over court battle with Facebook in US