Social media giant Meta Platfoms Inc is challenging Andrew Forrest's recent legal success against it by hiring high-profile attorney Karen Dunn, who is also assisting Kamala Harris in her debate preparations against Donald Trump.
The Fortescue (ASX:FMG) Ltd billionaire initiated legal proceedings against Meta, accusing the company of failing to prevent numerous scams on its platforms that have defrauded many Australians of their life savings.
Forrest alleges that Meta has been "knowingly advertising the content of criminals" and has committed to spending "whatever it takes" to hold the company accountable.
The lawsuit, filed in California, seeks to challenge Section 230, a 30-year-old law that provides US social media companies with immunity from liability for content posted by users, which Meta argues includes advertising.
In June, the California District Court found that Dr Forrest had "plausibly alleged that Meta played an active role in creating the ads at issue," which involve scams from criminal syndicates.
“Where a complaint is made by a public figure that their identity was being used in fake celebrity endorsement ads and/or ads which link to deceptive landing pages, to place warnings on ads featuring that public figure to the effect that ads on the Facebook (NASDAQ:META) platform have falsely suggested that the public figure endorses a money making scheme or trading scheme when they did not and the user should exercise care,” the court documents state.
“Consumers who consequently signed up to the trading schemes lost money investing in them. Facebook estimated in August 2019 that around $500 million had been lost by consumers worldwide by reason of such schemes. Some individual Australian Facebook users have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Meta appealing the decision
Meta is now appealing this decision, with a hearing scheduled at the Northern District, Federal Court, in San Jose, California. The company’s decision to bring in Dunn underscores the seriousness with which it views Forrest's lawsuit.
Forrest’s legal action stems from his claims that Meta has the technical capability to shut down scam advertisements but has "failed to do so." He has highlighted that his likeness has been used in multiple scam ads published on Meta’s platforms daily, alongside other prominent figures such as Waleed Aly, Dick Smith and David Koch.
Since raising concerns with Meta in 2014, Forrest has not received a satisfactory response. The inaction has led to significant financial losses for Australian victims, including one woman who lost A$670,000 and another individual who was defrauded of A$77,254.
Meta's Australian head, William Easton, acknowledged the issue but described it as a "challenging, industry-wide problem".