Australian billionaire launches criminal case against Facebook

Canberra: An Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest has launched a criminal case against meta-owned Facebook—alleging the company failed to prevent scam ads that used his image. 

According to details, Andrew Forrest argues that Facebook breached Australian anti-money laundering laws over the spread of cryptocurrency cons. 

It was the first time Facebook was facing a criminal case globally, he said.

Facebook's owner—Meta—did not comment on Forrest's lawsuit but said it was "committed to keeping those people [scammers] off our platform".  

The billionaire—chairman of miner Fortescue Metals, alleged Facebook had been "criminally reckless" in not doing more to halt the ads, which first appeared in early 2019. 

As per lawsuit, the scams use his image and those of other celebrities to promote bogus investments that promise riches.  

Facebook bars such ads—many still appear on the platform.  

"We take a multifaceted approach to stop these ads, we work not just to detect and reject the ads themselves but also block advertisers from our services and, in some cases, take court action to enforce our policies," a Meta representative said.

Dr Forrest said he had also written an open letter to Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg in November 2019, urging him to take more action. 

"I'm concerned about innocent Australians being scammed through clickbait advertising on social media," billionaire said in a statement on Thursday. 

"I'm acting here for Australians, but this is happening all over the world," the statement added. 

However, the case will be heard in the Magistrates Court of Western Australia from 28 March. If successful, the social media platform could face fines or be forced to change its advertising. 

Moreover, Dr Forrest has also filed a civil lawsuit in the US state of California, where Facebook is headquartered.