The District Court of Western Australia has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Australian mining billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest against Meta. Forrest had accused the social media giant of allowing scam crypto advertisements featuring his image to lead to significant losses for innocent individuals. However, prosecutors argued that there was insufficient evidence to support Forrest’s claims.
Forrest, who is the chairman of Fortescue Metals and the second-richest person in Australia, filed criminal charges against Meta in February 2022 under the Commonwealth Criminal Code Anti-Money Laundering sections. He alleged that Meta knowingly profited from these illegal ads and failed to remove them. Forrest had to obtain the approval of the Australian attorney general to proceed with the lawsuit.
In November 2019, Forrest wrote an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, demanding that the company, which operates Facebook and Instagram, among other platforms, take down fraudulent ads and prevent the misuse of his image.
Meta pleaded not guilty to the charges in December 2023. The suit has now been dropped by the District Court of Western Australia due to a lack of evidence. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed the dismissal but did not provide further details. In a statement to The Guardian, Forrest expressed his disappointment with the outcome.
In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for Meta stated that the company is committed to preventing scams on its platforms and protecting its users.
Forrest also filed a civil suit against Meta in the California Northern District Court in June 2022, alleging that Facebook’s advertising interface facilitated the development of scam ads. Meta has filed a motion to dismiss this case, which is still pending.
Despite Forrest’s legal actions, scam advertisements featuring his image have continued to appear. In February, Cybertrace discovered deep-fake images of Forrest in ads on Facebook. In a separate incident, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, sued two individuals in China for allegedly creating scam apps that were downloaded over 100,000 times from the platform.
Overall, the lawsuit between Andrew Forrest and Meta has been dropped due to a lack of evidence. However, Forrest has pursued other legal actions against the company, and scam ads misusing his image continue to be a problem.