Dr Forrest launched a civil case against Facebook in the United States in September, while the Commonwealth charges going through WA courts were revealed last month.

The billionaire said in a statement last month he had asked Facebook to stop scammers using his image.

“I’m doing this because I’m concerned about innocent Australians being scammed through clickbait advertising on social media. I’m committed to ensuring that social media operators don’t allow their sites to be used by criminal syndicates,” Dr Forrest said.

“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.

“Social media is part of our lives, but it’s in the public interest for more to be done to ensure fraud on social media platforms is eliminated or significantly reduced.”

Facebook is facing further proceedings in the federal court after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleged Meta engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct through the publication of scam ads featuring the images of well-known Australians.

Loading

ACCC’s former chairman Rod Sims said at the time Meta should have done more to detect and remove false or misleading ads from Facebook.

“We allege that the technology of Meta enabled these ads to be targeted to users most likely to engage with the ads, that Meta assured its users it would detect and prevent spam and promote safety on Facebook, but it failed to prevent the publication of other similar celebrity endorsement cryptocurrency scam ads on its pages or warn users,” he said.

In 2019, Consumer Protection WA revealed a Bunbury woman had reported a loss of more than $670,000 after falling victim to a fake investment scheme that used an image of Dr Forrest.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.