Facebook cops blast from Andrew Forrest fraudulent ads

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest has slammed Facebook over its lack of action on fraudulent ­ads.

Andrew Forrest has written a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg criticising his lack of action over fake ads Picture: Marie Nirme

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest has slammed Facebook for its lack of action over fraudulent advertising on its platforms, flagging a push for governments around the world to step up their scrutiny and regulation of the social media giant.

The iron ore billionaire has delivered a letter to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, slamming him and his company over its “socially reprehensible recalcitrance” over fraudulent ­advertising. “Facebook is not a billboard, it is one of the world’s most pernicious publishers,” Mr Forrest told The Australian.

 

Read Mr Forrest’s letter in full

 

“It is time for Facebook to take responsibility and stop profiting from criminals.”

Mr Forrest is among a host of prominent Australians whose image has been used by fraudsters as “celeb-bait” to push their scheme through ads on the likes of Facebook, Google, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Images of Mr Forrest, casino billionaire James Packer, former NSW premier Mike Baird and television host David Koch have been appropriated by scammers for ads run through Facebook and other online platforms.

In September, a woman from Bunbury, south of Perth, revealed she had lost $670,000 after falling victim to a scam featuring Forrest’s likeness that she found advertised on Facebook and LinkedIn. She fell victim to the scam months after Mr Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation had alerted Facebook to the bogus ads.

The attack from Forrest is the latest in a series of issues facing the tech giants in Australia, including scrutiny by Australian regulators over Facebook’s proposed Libra digital currency and an ACCC investigation into Google’s harvesting of data.

Mr Forrest is understood to have first flagged his concerns with Facebook over the proliferation of fraudulent advertisements back in March, and has grown increasingly frustrated by the social media giant’s reactive approach.

“As your socially reprehensible recalcitrance has continued, a concerted international effort is required to secure independent oversight and accountability for Facebook’s operations,” Mr Forrest said in his letter. “I am therefore calling on governments around the world to update their regulatory and legislative frameworks to ensure society is protected from the harm Facebook facilitates by allowing scammers to advertise on its platform.”

While Facebook and other social media and search engine ­giants have deleted vast numbers of fraudulent accounts, they have collected large amounts of revenue from the dodgy advertisements. Bloomberg last year estimated that questionable websites spent $US1.3bn ($1.9 billion) a year on internet advertising.

A Facebook spokesman said the problem was not unique to the company, which now had 35,000 people working on safety and security. He said Facebook removed the scam ads as soon as it became aware of them. Last Thursday the company launched a new form for users to report scams.

But Mr Forrest said relying on users to report the scams was “not good enough”. “Take responsibility, work harder to recognise these scams and ... check the facts before publication,” he said.