Whistleblower accuses Meta of inflating Shops ads performance

Meta has been accused of inflating the performance of its e-commerce advertising product, Shops ads, according to a whistleblower complaint filed in a U.K. court, media reports said on Thursday.

The complaint was filed on August 20 with the London Central Employment Tribunal by former Meta product manager cum whistleblower Samujjal Purkayastha.

The former employee alleges the social media giant artificially inflated return on ad spend (ROAS) by counting shipping fees as revenue, subsidising bids in ad auctions and applying undisclosed discounts, according to the media reports.

He alleged that the company exaggerated the return on ad spend (ROAS) of Shops ads by 17–19%.

Previously, in 2024, Meta was accused of inflating audience figures for its ads. At the time, a group of advertisers alleged that the company misrepresented data on reach and views, which influenced their ad spending decisions.

In the latest filing, as per the media report, Purkayastha further claimed that Meta subsidised advertiser bids in auctions and applied undisclosed discounts to make Shops ads appear more effective than other ad products.

He linked the alleged manipulation to Apple’s 2021 privacy changes, which restricted iOS tracking data and were expected to cost Meta around $10 billion in revenue, as projected by then CFO David Wehner. Purkayastha, who joined Meta in 2020 and was reassigned to the Shops ads team in 2022, alleged that internal reviews in 2024 confirmed the inflated metrics. Without such boosts, he reportedly claimed, Shops ads performed no better than Meta’s traditional ads.

Purkayastha said he raised concerns with senior leaders between 2022 and 2024, but was terminated in February 2025. He has sought interim relief for reinstatement, though a tribunal judge has already rejected this request on Wednesday, saying the dismissal may have been due to personal or broader layoff factors.

A full hearing is reportedly expected next year. The company has said it is actively defending the proceedings and maintains that the allegations are without merit, and showed confidence in its performance review processes.