Meta ‘publishing the content of criminals’, says Andrews Forrest ahead of US legal battle
Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest says Meta must be held legally accountable for the proliferation of scams across Facebook and he’s putting his vast resources into legal action.
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Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has accused Facebook owner Meta of “knowingly advertising the content of criminals” as he prepares to confront the tech giant in Californian and Perth courts over the proliferation of scams on its social network.
Dr Forrest said the Mark Zuckerberg-led company repeatedly snubbed his requests to remove scam ads featuring his likeness that have fleeced some Australians of their life savings.
He said he has taken action as part of a crusade to protect the “innocent and vulnerable”, and to stop Meta “overriding democracy all over the world”.
“They just blatantly refuse to have any influence on the content on their sites no matter how fraudulent,” Dr Forrest said.
“I’ve repeatedly asked Facebook to remove the thousands of scam ads featuring my image. But they continue to proliferate with Facebook’s knowledge on their paid advertising campaigns.”
In court documents, Dr Forrest said at least five new scam ads featuring his likeness are published on Facebook every day. He said he was suing the tech giant in California because the company claims it’s not subject to Australian law, despite having about 11.5 million users here and raking in between $4.7bn and $5.1bn in Australian advertising revenue a year.
But in a blow to Dr Forrest in Australia, the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions has dropped the charges laid against the social media giant over its fraudulent advertising.
DPP prosecutors on Friday morning told the District Court of Western Australia that the agency had decided to discontinue all charges against Facebook parent company Meta Platforms after accepting a brief of evidence in the case.
It ends a years-long quest by Dr Forrest to have Facebook criminally prosecuted in Australia over its role in proliferating fraudulent advertising on its platforms. Several Australians have lost their life savings after clicking on advertisements on Facebook featuring Dr Forrest’s likeness.
In the US, social media companies are immune from liability for the content posted by third parties under a 30-year-old federal law – a position Dr Forrest is challenging, given he says Meta knowingly accepts money from criminals to publish their advertisements.
“This well-meaning law – going back into the dark ages, 1996 well before the digital platforms even existed – actually gives full immunity for content published on any of the tech companies platforms,” Dr Forrest said.
“(It was) designed of course to help the internet. But it doesn’t; it overrides democracy all over the world.
“This law means that these tech companies can publish the actions of criminals on their platform because they’re getting money for it. (Meta is) turning the other way, and retirees all over Australia – many of whom haven’t even been to America – by having this law imported into their backyard (makes) them vulnerable for losing all their hard-earned savings.”
Dr Forrest first raised the fraudulent advertisements with Meta in 2014. Nothing happened. He personally wrote to Mr Zuckerberg, but didn’t hear back.
As a result of the lack of action, one Australian woman fell victim to a scam featuring Mr Forrest’s likeness and lost $670,000. Another man clicked on a link in a fraudulent Facebook add and was swindled out of $77,254, and a A 72-year-old Western Australian known as “FZ” lost $250,000 – which he has not been able to recover.
Dr Forrest has also written to Meta’s Australian boss, William Easton, who replied: “I appreciate this is very frustrating for you – it’s an extremely challenging, industry-wide problem which we are working to address.”
It’s not just Australians voicing concern. Facebook scammers are also robbing Americans out of their life savings by impersonating billionaires, including hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman who, like Dr Forrest, has expressed his frustration at Meta’s inaction.
“It’s like a game of Whac-a-Mole,” McGill said. “It’s been a huge problem and all social media companies need to do more to prevent people from being scammed like this.”
If Dr Forrest is successful in his fight against Meta in the US, it will set a global precedent which could allow Australians and people from other countries to sue it.
“I’m asking the courts of California, like I will ask the courts of Australia, to fix this illegal or improper content rapidly. We know it can be done. The law sure might have to be fixed and Facebook needs to know that they’re accountable – like all the rest of us – to the law,” Dr Forrest said. “That they’re subject not only to American law but to Australian law.
“When we as ordinary Australians try to sue in the exclusive jurisdiction of California, it’s pretty tough. It’s in California. It controls our laws, but then you run into the statutory immunity. I’m serious about doing whatever small part I can to protect the innocent from exploitation.”
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