Australian prosecutors have dropped their prosecution of Meta, which billionaire Andrew Forrest accused of publishing fraudulent advertisements about cryptocurrencies.

The Prosecutor General's Office said that insufficient evidence was found against Meta to continue prosecuting the company. Previously, Fortescue Metals Group owner Andrew Forrest accused the social network Facebook of violating anti-money laundering laws. The company allows scammers to publish advertisements for dubious cryptocurrency schemes that use photographs of influential people, Forrest says. This is done to make people believe that he is recommending investments in cryptocurrencies.

Forrest also filed a separate civil lawsuit against Meta in California state court – Australian law allows an individual to prosecute a foreign corporation with the consent of the attorney general. Forrest commented on the decision to dismiss the case, calling it a tragedy for someone's parents or grandparents who lost their life savings due to fraudulent advertising.

The billionaire said that back in 2019, Facebook promised to remove fraudulent ads featuring his face, but the ads still continue to appear for Australian Facebook users. According to the plaintiff, from April 2023 to November 2023, more than 1,000 fraudulent advertisements appeared on Facebook. Therefore, Forrest will not stop pursuing the company because it does not take the necessary measures to prevent such fraud.

In turn, Facebook argues that US laws exempt Internet platforms from liability for content published by third parties, and seeks to dismiss Forrest's lawsuit. However, the Australian entrepreneur called the company's arguments invalid, since US laws apply only within the country.

Let us recall that several months ago, scammers began promoting the Quantum AI cryptocurrency trading platform using a deepfake of Andrew Forest.