Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has been profiting from large-scale fraudulent advertising for years. Internal documents you have accessed Reuters reveal that the company estimates that 10% of its global revenue in 2024 – about $16 billion – will come from advertisements for scams, prohibited products or illegal activities such as unlicensed online casinos, pyramid schemes, fake medical products or fraudulent investment campaigns.

One of the reports, dated December 2024, estimates that Meta platforms serve 15 billion high-fraud risk ads every day. And although many of these ads are detected by the company’s internal systems, the current policy only blocks an advertiser if the algorithm estimates with at least 95% certainty that they are committing fraud. If the probability is high but inconclusive, Meta doesn’t kick you out: it simply charges you higher fees for serving ads, in an attempt to deter you without losing revenue.

The scale of this permissiveness is reflected in figures such as the following: four fraudulent campaigns withdrawn in 2025 generated 67 million per month in advertising revenue. And each semester, Meta earns about $3.5 billion just from ads considered “high legal risk.”

Additionally, Meta’s own ad personalization system contributes to the problem because users who click on scams tend to receive more similar ads, reinforcing exposure to fraud.

Despite the magnitude of the problem, Meta’s internal measures are lukewarm. Among them are the increase in rates for suspicious advertisers and the creation of internal rankings such as “Scammiest Scammer”, which identifies the most reported scammers of the week. But according to leaked documents, even so-called “High Value Accounts” can accumulate up to 500 violations before being suspended.

The company claims that it has reduced user complaints about fraudulent ads by 58% in the last year and that it has eliminated more than 134 million pieces of fraudulent advertising content in 2025. But the case not only puts users at risk, who see their data, savings and trust compromised, but also sends a disturbing message to the advertiser ecosystem: what guarantees does a platform that monetizes fraud offer?

This screenshot shows a fake ad that Meta removed from Facebook after Reuters flagged it. Spice manufacturer McCormick confirmed that the advertisement in its name was false (screenshot via Reuters).

The lack of effective supervision over online advertising has turned these practices into a profitable business model. AI technology also allows the creation of increasingly convincing scams, impersonating the image of legitimate brands. As the Conscious Advertising Network points out, progress requires transparency and collaboration between platforms, advertisers and regulators, something that Meta seems to systematically delay.

France already suspended Wish in 2021 for similar practices, and the question is whether European organizations will act with the same firmness in the face of the data revealed about Meta.