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Australia’s richest woman has joined fellow West Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s public fight with Facebook and parent company Meta over its inaction in removing advertising scams using their likeness.
On November 9, Gina Rinehart wrote to Meta founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg demanding he do more to stop the proliferation of scams on his platforms.
She said she had come across hundreds of scam adverts using images and AI-generated videos of prominent Australians such as herself, developer Harry Triguboff and media personalities Tracey Grimshaw and Karl Stefanovic.
“In the last few weeks, I have had more than 750 scams on Facebook, as opposed to only one on [X] in the same time period; hence I’d appreciate more efforts taken in attempting to address these issues,” Rinehart’s letter read.
“Greater action is needed to stop scams and intentionally fraudulent content from being available and advertised to millions of Australians. And I assume, spread overseas as well.
“Despite our staff’s concerted efforts to report such content, there remains an alarming persistence of scams, and new ones increasingly emerge. As mentioned above, our staff cannot keep up.
“Meta needs to do more.”
Rinehart’s company Hancock Prospecting shared the latter with media over the weekend along with images and video of scams including her likeness.
In one AI-generated video imitating an A Current Affair report, Rinehart discusses a scam software platform with Grimshaw before the video urges viewers to invest tens of thousands of dollars in the scam.
In her letter to Zuckerberg, Rinehart said that scam video had been active on Meta platforms since January 24, 2023, despite it being reported.
One of the Gina Rinhart scams on Facebook.Credit: Hancock Prospecting/Facebook
Forrest is currently locked in a legal battle with Meta over cryptocurrency scam ads that used his image.
The mining magnate levelled a criminal case against Facebook in 2022 over the ads after a failed public appeal to its founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Forrest claims Meta breached Australian anti-money laundering laws by failing to stop fake advertisements being published.
The company has pleaded not guilty to three counts of recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime to the value of $1000 or more over the advertisements, which date back to early 2019.
Both parties are locked in a legal battle over a subpoena Meta slapped on Forrest demanding access to his legal team’s private emails and details on how his lawsuit is being funded.
Magistrate Melita Medcalf was due to rule on the document swap on Monday, but it has been adjourned to a later date.
A Meta spokeswoman said the company was constantly tackling scams through a combination of technology like machine learning and specially trained reviewers to identify content and accounts that violate its policies.
“We encourage people to use our in-app reporting tools when they see any suspicious activity. We encourage those who have fallen victim to scams to reach out to their local law enforcement agency,” she said.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission dragged Meta to the Federal Court in March last year, claiming it engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by publishing scam ads featuring high-profile Australians.
The ACCC is seeking declarations, injunctions, and penalties and wants the company to cover its court costs.
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