John Howard tips G20 to fight online scams misusing public figures’ images
The G20 would be the best organisation for tackling multibillion-dollar scams being promoted on Big Tech platforms, John Howard believes.
The G20 would be the best organisation for tackling multibillion-dollar scams being promoted on Big Tech platforms with fake advertisements misusing the images of trusted and respected public figures, John Howard believes.
The former prime minister was unaware until this week that a drawing of a man who bears a strong resemblance to him had appeared in online ads to catch the eyes of potential investors. The ads did not name him.
Mr Howard said he would be “angry and upset’’ if anyone had lost money as a result of them. Advertisements misusing the images and reputations of other prominent Australians have been more blatant, featuring fake voiceovers and lip synching, sometimes with the help of AI.
To date, legal and other action by those whose images and reputations have been misused online has proven futile.
Fortescue Metals boss Andrew Forrest has been calling on Meta for a decade to remove scam ads, which he says have “bilked innocent Australians out of millions” of dollars. In March, Dr Forrest said he had spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” investigating the criminals behind the scam ads and defending himself and his business reputation.
Australians lost $2.7bn last year to a variety of scams. With the criminal masterminds’ call centres operating throughout Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Eastern and Southern Europe, and Big Tech platforms operating internationally, the problem needed “co-operation between like-minded countries’’, Mr Howard said. “All governments should be concerned. I would support lobbying the G20 to look at the issue. It’s a good body and it includes Australia.’’
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