Australia’s Richest Man Sues Meta Platforms

Australia’s richest man, Andrew Forrest, has filed a criminal complaint against Facebook ($FB@US) in Australia. The complaint alleges that the platform violated anti-money laundering laws and that the platform was aiming to scam Australians. Forrest said in a statement, “I’m acting here for Australians, but this is happening all over the world.’ Interestingly, a Facebook spokesperson said of criminals using the platform for ill-gotten gain that, “we’re committed to keeping these people off our platform.” This is the first time Facebook has been the subject of a criminal complaint, and this action is only taking place because Australia allows private citizens to file criminal actions while leaving the rest of the case to the Attorney-General. At the heart of the complaint is Forrest’s allegation that Facebook did not ban advertisements of crypto scams that were used to both launder money and steal from ordinary Australians, with Forrest repeatedly appealing to Mark Zuckerberg since 2019 to take action. At press time, Meta Platforms stock was trading at $323, down more than 23% in premarket activity.