https://www.9news.com.au/national/a...scam-ads/d73df763-be87-4ff9-aca9-d4efd7abfc08 Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest pursues criminal case against Facebook over scam ads in world-first By Chanel Zagon Feb 3, 2022 Australian mining magnate Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest is pursuing criminal proceedings against Facebook alleging the social media giant breached anti-money laundering laws by failing to stop scam advertisements that featured his image. The scam ads allegedly used Dr Forrest's picture, as well as those of other celebrities, to promote cryptocurrency investment schemes and have appeared on Facebook since March 2019. Dr Forrest, Australian billionaire and chairman of Fortescue Metals Group, claims Facebook failed to have sufficient controls or systems in place to stop the site from being used to perpetuate the scams. The lawsuit, which will be heard initially in the Western Australia Magistrates' Court on March 28, is believed to be the first time Facebook has faced criminal charges anywhere in the world. A separate civil lawsuit in California has also been filed. "This action is being taken on behalf of those everyday Australians – mums and dads, grans and grandads – who work all their lives to gather their savings and to ensure those savings aren't swindled away by scammers," Dr Forrest said in a statement. "I'm acting here for Australians, but this is happening all over the world." Scam ads that promise users a chance to get rich through cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin are banned on Facebook, but they still exist on the platform. Dr Forrest said he wanted the social media giant to crack down on scammers targeting vulnerable people on the platform. It follows several requests by the businessman asking Facebook to prevent his image from being used by criminals, including an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg in November 2019. "I'm doing this because I'm concerned about innocent Australians being scammed through clickbait advertising on social media," he said. Dr Forrest wrote an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg in November 2019 asking Facebook to prevent his image from being used by criminals. (AP) "I'm committed to ensuring that social media operators don't allow their sites to be used by criminal syndicates. "I want social media companies to use much more of their vast resources and billions of dollars in annual revenue to protect vulnerable people – the people who are targeted and fall victim to these horrible scams with their hard-earned savings." A spokesman for Meta, the social media giant's corporate parent, did not comment on the case, but said scam ads were banned on Facebook. "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," he said. "We're committed to keeping these people off our platform." A committal hearing will likely follow later in 2022.
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https://www.perthnow.com.au/technol...nches-legal-action-against-facebook-c-5545803 Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest sues Facebook 7NEWS Perth Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest sues Facebook Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest launches legal action against Facebook Lauren FerriNCA NewsWire February 3, 2022 Mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest has launched legal action against social media giant Facebook, alleging the company breached anti-money laundering laws by failing to prevent a series of scam crypto ads using his name and image. The billionaire Fortescue Metals Group chairman had repeatedly asked Facebook to better monitor the platform after people fell for the scam ads, which appear as “sponsored posts” and include details of Dr Forrest’s “investment strategy”. He will now be bringing criminal charges against Facebook for the first time in the Western Australia magistrates court after seeking approval from the attorney-general to launch the action under the commonwealth criminal code, Dr Forrest said in a statement. “This action is being taken on behalf of those everyday Australians – mums and dads, grans and grandads – who work all their lives to gather their savings and to ensure those savings aren’t swindled away by scammers,” he said. Mining magnate Andrew Twiggy Forrest has launched legal action against social media giant Facebook. Credit: Supplied “I’m acting here for Australians, but this is happening all over the world.” The clickbait ads, a number of which allege Dr Forrest secretly made his $27bn fortune via cryptocurrency trading, have irked him since March 2019 prompting him to publicly appeal to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to stop them. Other variations of the scam feature the likes of actor Chris Hemsworth, media personality David Koch, ex-NSW premier Mike Baird and businessman Dick Smith. He alleges the social media giant was “criminally reckless” by not taking steps to stop criminals from using Facebook to send the advertisements which aimed to defraud Australians. Dr Forrest also alleges Facebook failed to create controls that would prevent its systems from being used to commit alleged crimes. The mining magnate said he wanted the social media giant to use its resources to do more to protect vulnerable people targeted by criminal syndicates. Twiggy Forrest has been angry about the issue for many years. Credit: News Corp Australia “I’m doing this on behalf of innocent Australians who don’t have the resources to take on companies like Facebook … The same people who are being scammed and many of whom have seen me falsely featured on Facebook advertisements,” he said. “I want social media companies to use more of their vast resources and billions of dollars in annual revenue to protect vulnerable people who are targeted and fall victim to these scams. “Social media is part of our lives, but I want more to be done to ensure fraud on social media platforms is eliminated or significantly reduced.” A spokesman for Meta, the new name for Facebook’s corporate parent, said scam ads had been banned from Facebook. “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,” the spokesman said. “We’re committed to keeping these people off our platform.” The three charges against Facebook will first be heard in an initial hearing in the WA Magistrates Court on March 28.