An Australian court has dealt a blow to mining billionaire Andrew Forrest's legal campaign against Meta Platforms over allegations the tech giant enabled fraudulent cryptocurrency advertisements featuring his image.

The District Court of Western Australia rejected Forrest's criminal case against Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram. Forrest had accused the company of facilitating crypto scams that tricked users and enabled money laundering activities.

The dismissal represents a victory for Meta in its defense against claims it unlawfully benefited from hosting crypto investment ads that misappropriated Forrest's likeness to dupe victims. The court found insufficient evidence to allow the high-stakes lawsuit to proceed.

Forrest, chairman of iron ore behemoth Fortescue Metals Group and one of Australia's wealthiest individuals, filed the action under the country's anti-money laundering laws. He alleged third parties exploited Meta's ad platforms to promote bogus crypto schemes using his image and reputation to lend them credibility.

In his view, such conduct constituted a violation of laws prohibiting the facilitation of money laundering. Meta flatly denied the allegations, asserting it has robust systems to detect fraudulent activity and does not tolerate such abuses.

A Meta spokesperson responded that the complexity of cybercrime meant "skilled criminal operators" were constantly deploying sophisticated scam tactics, but stressed user safety and scam prevention were paramount priorities.

While the Australian criminal case was dismissed, Forrest is pursuing a separate civil lawsuit against Meta in U.S. federal court in California. That action accuses the company of not implementing adequate safeguards, leading to financial losses for consumers misled by fraudulent ads across its platforms.

Forrest's legal team contends Meta should be held liable given its powerful ad-targeting capabilities enabled the scam promotions to proliferate widely on its properties.

Meta has countered that U.S. laws generally provide legal protections shielding online platforms from liability for third-party content, provided they make good-faith efforts to moderate such content when flagged.

Despite the setback in Australian courts, Forrest bemoaned the hardships faced by victims "cruelly misled into cryptocurrency scams." He warned the ruling demonstrated the challenges everyday Australians faced in seeking redress against powerful global technology firms in the nation's legal system.

Meta has maintained its commitment to continually improving user protections and refining systems to more effectively detect and prohibit frauds on its family of apps and services.

The dueling legal actions underscore the escalating battle between tech platforms and regulatory authorities over issues like consumer protections, content moderation practices and the presence of illicit financial schemes online.

As digital assets and decentralized technologies reshape global commerce and finance, the courts are poised to set key precedents governing how far liability may extend for the enablers of crypto-related fraud and misconduct.