Australian court dismisses billionaire’s lawsuit over fraudulent cryptocurrency ads

Key Takeaways:

The District Court of Western Australia has dismissed a lawsuit brought against Meta by Australian billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest.

Fraud is not welcome on Meta’s platform and the company will “work tirelessly” to stop fraud and protect users, a Meta spokesperson told Reuters.

The Western Australia District Court dismissed a lawsuit brought against Mehta by Australian billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest.

Forrest said innocent people have lost a lot of money due to fake cryptocurrency ads featuring their images on the meta platform. Prosecutors claimed there was insufficient evidence.

Forrest, the chairman of Fortescue Metals and Australia’s second-richest man, personally filed a criminal complaint against Meta in February 2022, according to anti-money laundering provisions of the Commonwealth criminal code. He claimed the social media giant was “knowingly profiting from this vicious cycle.” He posted “illegal advertising” and did not delete the offending content. The consent of Australia’s Attorney General was required to bring the suit.

In November 2019, Forrest wrote an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg urging the company, which runs Facebook and Instagram, among other platforms, to remove false advertising and prevent people from misusing his images.

In December 2023, Mehta pleaded not guilty to the charges. A spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office told Reuters the case was dismissed due to insufficient evidence, but did not provide other details. Forrest sent the following statement to The Guardian:

“This shows that Facebook is overstepping Australia’s laws, hard-working Australians are not protected and fraud will continue to run rampant with people fooled by increasingly sophisticated technology on unaccountable social media platforms.”

Fraud is not welcome on Meta’s platform and the company will “work tirelessly” to stop fraud and protect users, a Meta spokesperson told Reuters.

Citing six charges, Forrest filed a civil lawsuit against Meta in June 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Facebook’s self-help ad interface materially helped scammers create the ads. Last January, Mehta filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Since Forrest’s billionaires took action against Meta, scams using his photos have continued. Last February, Cybertrace discovered a deepfake photo of Forrest in a Facebook ad.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, filed a lawsuit against two individuals in China on April 4. They claimed to be the source of a fraudulent app that was downloaded more than 100,000 times on the platform.

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