Meta allegedly earned 10% of its revenue from scam ads

Meta internally estimated that roughly 10% of its annual revenue, about $16 billion, came from advertisements promoting scams and banned products, according to a report which cited internal company documents reviewed by Reuters. The documents reveal that, for at least three years, the company failed to effectively detect and stop large volumes of fraudulent ads across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

A December 2024 document cited by the news agency estimated that users on the company’s platforms were shown about 15 billion ‘high-risk’ scam ads each day, generating roughly $7 billion in annual revenue from that category alone. Despite internal warning systems flagging suspicious marketers, the company’s automated tools only banned advertisers if the likelihood of fraud exceeded 95%. In cases of lower certainty, the company reportedly charged higher ad rates as a deterrent.

The news agency noted that the company’s internal data also showed that users who clicked on scam ads were likely to see more of them due to ad-personalization systems. The documents, produced between 2021 and 2025, suggest that the company sought to balance tackling scams with maintaining revenue growth.

A former Meta safety investigator told the agency that its acceptance of revenue from fraudulent sources underscored weak regulatory oversight of digital advertising. He said regulators would not tolerate banks profiting from fraud and argued the same standards should apply to technology companies.

A Meta spokesperson told the agency that the documents presented a ‘selective view’ and overstated the scale of illicit ad revenue, calling the 10.1% projection ‘rough and overly-inclusive.’ The company said the estimate included many legitimate ads and was later revised downward, though it did not disclose an updated figure. The spokesperson said the company continues to invest in combating fraud and scams, reporting a 58% drop in scam ad reports globally over the past 18 months and the removal of more than 134 million scam ad posts in 2025.

The media report noted that internal presentations described the company’s platforms as being involved in nearly one-third of all successful scams in the U.S. A 2025 internal review concluded that it was ‘easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google,’ without specifying why.

Regulatory scrutiny over the company’s handling of scam ads has intensified. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating it for financial scam advertising. At the same time, a British regulator found that its products accounted for 54% of all payment-related scam losses in 2023, more than all other social media platforms combined.

While internal memos emphasised reducing scam exposure, the report found that the company imposed limits on how much revenue it was willing to lose through stricter enforcement.

Meta’s spokesperson disputed that characterisation, telling Reuters that the company remains committed to fighting scams across its platforms.