Charges against Meta discontinued in WA after move by Andrew Forrest targeting false crypto ads

Criminal charges brought against Meta instigated by one of Australia's richest people, Andrew Forrest, over fraudulent cryptocurrency ads on Facebook have been discontinued in court.

The Western Australian mining magnate attempted to bring charges against the American social media giant in a suburban Perth magistrates' court, in relation to alleged fraudulent adverts used to defraud Australian investors.

His action focused on advertisements, which used his name and image, to promote cryptocurrency investment schemes, published on Facebook.

In a highly unusual move, Mr. Forrest brought the suit as an individual in a lower court.

But due to the seriousness of the charges, they were to be heard in a higher court and prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP).

Today in the WA District Court, Chief Judge Julie Wager accepted a petition from the CDPP to discontinue three charges relating to the handling of proceeds of crime.

A lawyer for the CDPP told the court that they had received the letter but decided not to pursue the accusation.

'Shame on them': victim

An alleged victim of the scam who went to court today said the outcome was disappointing, but vowed to keep fighting to hold Meta accountable.

"The message is that it's not the end," said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

The woman, who says she lost $670,000 in the scam that promised to invest her money in global cryptocurrency markets, urged the federal government to reform the law to prevent future losses.

TO 2020 ABC investigation into his case He discovered that he had made a series of transfers to Australian and German bank accounts, believing that the fact that they were in well-regulated jurisdictions meant he was safe.

But the money was then transferred to international shell companies that were set up in unregulated offshore jurisdictions.

Her bank did not alert her to any problems with the accounts, despite a series of irregularities, and she never got her money back.

The woman said she thought a class-action lawsuit against Meta was inevitable.

"Shame on them," he said.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Australians reported $3.1 billion in scam losses last year.

Scams threaten the vulnerable: Forrest

In a video posted overnight, Forrest accused social media companies of "simply blatantly refusing to have any influence over the content on their sites, no matter how fraudulent."

Despite repeatedly calling for the fake ads featuring his image to be removed, Forrest said they "continue to proliferate with Facebook's knowledge," which is why he had taken legal action in both the United States and Australia.

Charging...

He said retirees and pensioners were among those who had fallen for the scams, putting their life savings at risk.

"I call on all social media companies to use their vast resources to not only get bigger, richer, wider and fatter, but also to protect vulnerable people from having their platforms used by criminal syndicates." , to rob innocent people around the world." he said.

The mining billionaire said US laws dating back to 1996 gave social media platforms "full immunity" for any content they published, which threatened democracy globally, and it was time to "fix" this.

US court action pending

Forrest, founder of Perth-based Fortescue Metals Group, also launched civil proceedings against Facebook in California in September 2021.