Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest Files Charges Against Facebook for the First Time Over Clickbait Crypto Ads

Joseph Henry, Tech Times 03 February 2022, 01:02 am

Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, a known mining tycoon in Australia, is now going after Facebook over its failure to address false advertisements about cryptocurrencies. The billionaire now brought legal action against the social media giant regarding this issue.

Andrew Forrest vs Facebook

Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest Files Charges Against Facebook for the First Time Over Clickbait Crypto Ads

(Photo : Paul Kane/Getty Images)

According to a report by news.com.au on Thursday, Feb. 3, Forrest said that the company failed to address the issue by not removing malicious posts about crypto investment promotions.

This concern was repeatedly raised by the business magnate since March 2019. However, Facebook did not take action about this notion that's why Forrest decided to give a lesson to the tech titan.

Since false ads are still rampant across Facebook for some reason, Forrest said that the company was "criminally reckless" for doing that.

In addition, he cited that platform broke the money-laundering policies in Australia which is related to the company's negligence to put an end to the scammers.

Particularly, what Forrest wanted to point out is Meta's failure to "create controls" for the mitigation of its systems that are exposed to the crime.

World's First Action Against Scammers

Prior to filing charges against Facebook, Forrest previously made a request for the company to refrain from using his image for the promotion of suspicious crypto ads across the site. In November 2019, he wrote an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about this request.

Forrest also stated that he was concerned for the "innocent" Aussies who frequently fell for the clickbait trap on social media platforms. To add, the billionaire said that this legal action would help his people secure their savings against scammers.

"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."

Regarding the legal action, the initial case hearing is expected to be scheduled on March 28at the Western Australia Magistrates Court.

ABC News wrote in another report that a Meta representative was asked about the recent charges against the company.

The spokesperson only said that the firm was against scammy or misleading ads on social media. They added that this kind of incident was not good for the whole community because they breached their policies.

Aside from his issue with Meta, Forrest also said that he would be dealing with another firm. This time, the court concerns will be brought to California.

As of press time, the Australian entrepreneur businessman clarified that this case was still pending in the state's Superior Court.

UK Says No to Misleading Claims About Crypto Ads

Last month, Tech Times reported that the government of the United Kingdom imposed a new set of policies that would remove all deceptive crypto ads. This ruling would grant people much-needed consumer protection for their digital investments.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joseph Henry