‘Twiggy’ fighting scams
New ads daily on Meta
Australian billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has been the victim of at least five new scam ads published on Meta’s platforms every single day.
His legal fight to get Meta to remove the crypto and investment scams bearing his likeness will be heard in both Australia and the US next week, in what is shaping up to be a David and Goliath battle between the mining magnate and the trillion-dollar social media platform.
The dual hearings will be a test case on whether the tech company can be held liable for adverts on its platforms.
If Dr Forrest – the unlikely underdog in this scenario – succeeds, it could help innocent Australians who fall victim to online scams on Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, as well as protect those who have had their likeness used in fraudulent adverts published on its platforms. The Fortescue Metals executive chairman can only sue Meta in California, because the tech giant asserts it does not do business in Australia and therefore Australian courts have no jurisdiction over it. That’s despite the company making $1.7bn in revenue from its Australian sites in 2022.
In a pincer move, Dr Forrest has also instigated criminal charges against the tech company in WA. Meta has to answer criminal charges in Australia. That case has been taken over by the Commonwealth and Dr Forrest will be a witness in those proceedings.
The next stage of both cases will be heard around the same time on April 12, Australian time. Dr Forrest told News Corp Australia he was “taking this legal action because ordinary Australians – mums, dads, grans and grandads are falling victim to these horrible scams.
“They are losing their life savings and do not have the resources to fight back,” Dr Forrest said. “Social media companies must use much more of their vast resources and billions of dollars in annual revenue to improve the integrity and security of their platforms.”
His battle to remove fake ads from Meta has been a decade long, but the court documents from the Californian case reveal he is still being victimised. During a 202 day period last year, 1154 new fake ads using his likeness were distributed on Meta’s platforms. That works out to be more than five a day.
“Meta has not stopped Scam Ads from appearing on Meta’s social media platforms or taken the Scam Ads down — and in fact they appear to be multiplying,” Dr Forrest said in papers. The fake ads where Dr Forrest appears to be promoting various investments, tricked one Australian woman out of $670,000, while an Australian man was swindled out of $77,254.
The papers suggest Meta will claim immunity under a 1996 US law Section 230, which protects tech platforms from being liable for third party content.
However, Dr Forrest will argue Meta is responsible for the fraudulent ads placed via their Meta Ads platform because they are processed by the company before being released. Meta was approached for comment.