The lawsuit by Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, an Australian mining icon, against Meta has been dismissed by the WA District Court.
Deceptive crypto ads that led to serious losses
According to Forrest, deceptive cryptocurrency ads that use his photo on Facebook and Instagram led to serious losses for many users who did not know the truth. The authorities said that there was not enough evidence to proceed with the case.
Forrest, who is the chairperson of Fortescue Metals and also listed as the second richest man in Australia, sued Meta in February 2022. He accused the tech giant of not properly acting against these criminal advertisements and of refusing to do so under the umbrella of the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act’s Anti-Money Laundering directives. However, the initiation of the lawsuit required the consent of the Australian attorney general.
According to a report by The Guardian, Forest said: “It shows that Facebook is beyond the laws of Australia, that hardworking Australians are not protected, and that scams will continue to run rampant with no recourse for those who are duped by increasingly sophisticated technology on social media platforms that take no responsibility.”
Forest is determined to carry on the fight against Meta
Forrest is openly determined to carry on the struggle for the implementation of the required legislative changes to punish foreign social media giants such as Facebook. He emphasized that policymakers need to work for the public good above all, especially for the parents. He pointed out the fact that these scammy ads have been detrimental to Australian pensioners, making them lose millions of dollars for the last 5 years. He shared a video with Guardian Australia before appearing in court.
He did not spare Facebook for its passive stance on fraudulent marketing practices that are, unfortunately, very harmful to unaware members of the public. He has also moved to seek legal remedy in the Californian and Australian courts and even suggests the laws might need to be amended to make Facebook legally bound to the same laws that everyone else has to follow. He is contesting the disputed Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in the United States, under which online platforms like Meta are at present shielded from being held liable for user-generated content, demanding a revision to hold these organizations accountable for the harmful content.
As Forrest, the billionaire, filed a lawsuit against Meta, these schemes continued, with his picture being misused. In February, Cybertrace revealed Facebook ads using sophisticatedly created pictures of him.
