Fri 04 February 2022:
Andrew Forrest, an Australian billionaire and iron ore mogul, has announced that he will sue Facebook for defamation. He claims Meta’s platform violated anti-money laundering regulations and was being used to defraud Australians. The chairman of Fortescue Metals Group is Forrest, Australia’s richest man.
He stated that he was initiating legal action in order to prevent individuals from being victims of clickbait advertising frauds. His image was also being used to advertise bitcoin schemes, he noted. He has launched a case in Western Australia’s Magistrates Court, alleging that Facebook is to blame.
Facebook “failed to create controls or a corporate culture to prevent its systems being used to commit crime.” according to the lawsuit.
It also claims that Facebook was criminally negligent in failing to take enough efforts to prevent criminals from utilizing its social media platform to defraud Australian users.
The complaint follows Forrest’s claims that he made repeated requests to Facebook, including an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg in November 2019, requesting that his image not be used to promote investment ideas.
Facebook, which changed its name to Meta last year, declined to comment on the lawsuit but said that in general it has always taken a “multifaceted approach” to stop such ads appearing and had blocked advertisers.
“We’re committed to keeping these people off our platform,” a spokesperson for Meta said in an emailed statement.
Since March 2019, certain advertising on Facebook have utilized Forrest’s photograph and claimed to offer cryptocurrency investment schemes, according to the lawsuit.
“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,” Forrest said in a statement.
A private prosecution of a foreign corporation for alleged offences under the Commonwealth Criminal Code requires the approval of the country’s attorney general, according to Australian law.
“The Attorney-General has given her consent to the private prosecution against Facebook in relation to alleged offences under subsection 400.7(2) of the Criminal Code,” said Steven Lewis, principal of Mark O’Brien Legal, which will represent Forrest in the case.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
