Internal documents from Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reveal a concerning trend: the social media giant is earning billions of dollars annually from advertising linked to scams and the sale of banned products. The previously unreported documents, spanning from 2021 to this year, expose a system where Meta projected earning as much as 10% of its annual revenue, approximately $16 billion, through fraudulent e-commerce schemes, investment scams, illegal online casinos, and the promotion of prohibited medical goods.
Scale of the Problem
The sheer volume of questionable advertising is staggering. One December 2024 document indicates that Meta’s platforms display an estimated 15 billion “higher risk” scam advertisements daily. These ads are flagged by Meta’s own internal warning systems as potentially fraudulent. These advertisements contribute significantly to Meta’s revenue stream, with the company garnering about $7 billion annually from this category alone.
Tolerance of Risk: A Calculated Strategy
What’s particularly striking is Meta’s threshold for intervention. The documents show that the company only bans advertisers when its automated systems predict a 95% certainty of fraudulent activity. If the certainty is lower but still suggests potential scamming, Meta doesn’t ban the advertiser outright. Instead, it increases advertising rates, effectively penalizing the advertiser while still reaping profits from their presence. This approach suggests a calculated strategy where Meta prioritizes revenue over aggressive fraud prevention.
Personalized Advertising and Scam Exposure
The risks associated with this approach are compounded by Meta’s ad-personalization system. This system delivers ads based on user interests, meaning those who click on questionable advertisements are likely to see more of them. In essence, Meta’s own algorithms can create a feedback loop, exposing users to increasingly harmful content in pursuit of higher ad revenue.
Internal Projections and Quantifying Abuse
The documents reflect Meta’s efforts to quantify the scale of abuse on its platforms and weigh the potential impact of stricter measures. These internal assessments, compiled by teams across Meta’s finance, lobbying, engineering, and safety divisions, reveal a hesitancy to crack down on fraudulent advertising in ways that could significantly affect the company’s financial performance.
Lack of Regulatory Oversight
The situation highlights a broader issue: the lack of robust regulatory oversight in the online advertising industry. Sandeep Abraham, a former Meta safety investigator and fraud examiner, stated that if regulators wouldn’t tolerate banks profiting from fraud, they shouldn’t tolerate it in tech. This underscores the need for greater scrutiny of digital advertising practices to protect consumers and maintain trust in online platforms.
Meta’s Response
In response to the allegations, a Meta spokesperson argued that the documents present a “selective view” and “distort Meta’s approach to fraud and scams.” The company insists its internal projection was a “rough and overly-inclusive” estimate and declined to provide an updated figure. Meta asserts that it “aggressively fights fraud and scams” and highlights a 58% reduction in user reports of scam ads globally over the past 18 months, alongside the removal of over 134 million pieces of scam ad content so far in 2025.
Ultimately, these revelations raise serious questions about Meta’s commitment to user safety and the ethical implications of prioritizing profit over the protection of its billions of users from online scams and illegal goods.
The revelations paint a complex picture of a company grappling with the challenge of balancing its financial interests with its responsibility to protect users from harm. While Meta claims to be actively combating fraud, the internal documents suggest a system where the pursuit of profit can inadvertently enable and perpetuate harmful practices
