US judge demands Meta explain 230,000 scam adverts featuring a likeness of Aussie billionaire

Meta has disclosed the number of scam advertisements featuring Andrew Forrest, during a hearing in a California court as part of his lawsuit against the tech titan.

Fortescue Metals Group non-executive chairman Andrew Forrest. Picture: AFP

A US judge has ordered Meta to explain how it could allow about 230,000 scam advertisements featuring mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s likeness to proliferate on Facebook and its other social media platforms.

Meta disclosed the number of scam advertisements featuring Dr Forrest, during a discovery hearing in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) as part of the magnate’s ongoing battle with the tech behemoth.

The $US1.47 trillion ($2.31 trillion) company was subsequently ordered to reveal how its advertising technology could allow such fraudulent material to run rife.

Dr Forrest’s legal counsel, Simon Clarke, welcomed the court’s ruling, saying the social media network had published the content of criminals who have fleeced unsuspecting Australians.

“Meta’s admission confirms what we have long suspected – fraudsters are using its advertising systems at an astonishing scale to exploit innocent Australians, many of whom have lost their life savings,” Mr Clarke said.

“This isn’t just about criminals using the platform to defraud Australians; Meta’s own tools have played a role in amplifying these scams, and the court has rightly ordered full transparency into how its advertising technology operates.”

Meta declined to comment on the case.

Mr Clarke said Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi held the snap hearing after Meta tried to limit the information provided to Dr Forrest’s legal team.

He said that during the hearing Meta attempted to contain the scope of discovery, including by proposing restricted text-based searches and refusing to fully answer court-ordered interrogatories, but Judge DeMarchi rejected these efforts.

Meta must now provide information, including electronic records detailing when each of the 230,000 scam ads was published, and fully disclose how its advertising systems process scam content – including all tools and processes – from their production by fraudsters to how they are delivered by Meta.

“Meta’s attempts to limit scrutiny of its role in these scams have been called out by

the court,” Mr Clarke said.

“The court’s ruling ensures that we will now get to see how Meta’s own software, algorithms, and artificial intelligence may have actively contributed perpetrating fraud.”

Dr Forrest wants the Australian government to step in and demand accountability from Meta in Australia.

“It is a bitter irony that it has taken a US judge to force Meta to reveal that there were 230,000 attempts to defraud Australians on its platforms using Dr Forrest’s image,” Mr Clarke said.

“The Australian government must take urgent action to require Meta to submit to the jurisdiction of Australian courts, so that ordinary Australians who have been defrauded can seek compensation in Australia.”

Meta is also fighting to stop its former policy chief, Sarah Wynn-Williams, from promoting her tell-all book, Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism.

Ms Wynn-Williams worked at the company, then known as Facebook, from 2011 to 2017. In her book she makes broad claims about the company’s disregard for the potential consequences of its actions as it continued to gain power.

Dr Forrest – who has accused Facebook owner Meta of “knowingly advertising the content of criminals” – first raised the fraudulent advertisements with Meta in 2014. Nothing happened. He personally wrote to its chief, Mark Mr Zuckerberg, but didn’t hear back.

Andrew Forrest featured in five new scam ads published on Meta’s platforms every day.

Meta sought to use a 30-year-old American law that gives social media companies immunity from the content that users post on their platforms. But Dr Forrest argued advertising was different to users’ posts, given Meta accepts money from advertisers and has a screening process before publishing.

Last August Californian judge Casey Pitts dismissed Meta’s appeal on Dr Forrest’s “crucial victory” against Meta and his crusade against scammers that plague Facebook and its other platforms.

Another scam advertisement featuring Andrew Forrest’s likeness that appeared on Facebook.

Meta argued that third party players were still creating the content and under the present law – because the company is not involved in the creation or promotion of the final content – it was not responsible.

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 72-year-old Western Australian known as “FZ” lost $250,000 – which he has not been able to recover.

Dr Forrest has 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.”

Another hearing is schedule on October 31 to resolve any disputes Meta and Dr Forrest have regarding the scope of Facebook’s discovery and other case management issues.

Andrew Forrest says Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg ignored his personal request to remove the fraudulent advertisements.

Meta and its social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, have attracted tens of thousands more scammers than rivals such as X and Reddit, according to data from Texas-based Zimperium. It detected 99,690 scam hits on Meta’s platforms between October and March.

Facebook accounted for the lion’s share, with 53,275, followed by WhatsApp with 30,612 and Instagram 15,803, according to data obtained by The Australian.

The action comes after Meta switched off its news tab last April when it abandoned content deals with Australian media companies – a move that will remove about $70m a year from Australian newsrooms and breach a three-year-old code.

It attracted condemnation from law enforcement agencies last year over its plans to expand encryption on Facebook and Messenger – a decision that will have a devastating effect on the ability to detect and prevent child abuse.

Originally published as US judge demands Meta explain 230,000 scam adverts featuring a likeness of Aussie billionaire