Facebook believes that it’s not forced to sit through a court hearing against them by mining magnate Andrew Forrest, who claims that they were criminally neglectful on removing ads which featured images of him.
Forrest’s legal representatives appeared in court saying they had received a letter from the Facebook representatives which said they would not be making an appearance in the Perth Magistrates court.
Sam Vandongen, who acted on behalf of Forrest, claimed that Facebook had been served with all the necessary legal documents and were complied to make an appearance. In any other case, the court would be required to enter a plea of “not guilty”.
With the accused side not showing up in court, the case was adjourned until June 17th, with magistrate Brionne Ayling pointing out that since this was a jurisdiction matter, Facebook had the right to present their arguments at a later date.
After the end of the process, Forrest’s representative, Simon Clarke, said that while this course of action was expected by the company, it will not hold much weight in the long run: “It’s not surprising that they chose that course but we are confident and happy with the magistrate’s ruling.
“It would be surprising if Facebook didn’t take every step to contest what is a criminal prosecution with serious charges. There are significant consequences for Facebook so I would expect them to ultimately appear and vigorously contest it.”
The tech giant could be hit with a heavy fine, however the biggest hit would be to their credibility towards both advertisers and consumers.
Andrew Forrest has been fighting back against Facebook’s advertising scams since last year, when he launched a civil lawsuit in the US, in an attempt to get the company to stop using his image. He claims to be doing this not only for himself, but out of concern for innocent Australians who might also be getting scammed.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission has also taken legal action against the company in an attempt to bring advertising scams on their platform under greater control.
