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According to a Reuters report, about 10% of Meta’s earnings in 2024 will come from advertisements of counterfeit or banned products. Documents show that the company serves approximately 15 billion “high-risk” scam ads every day. Meta bans an advertiser only when it is 95% sure that he is committing fraud, otherwise it simply sells him an expensive ad slot. Due to this, Meta continued to earn crores of rupees from thugs.
New Delhi. The world’s largest social media company Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is now being accused of earning money from fraudulent advertisements. According to a Reuters report, about 10% of the company’s income came from advertisements that were promoting scam, fraud or banned products. The report says that in 2024, Meta had earned about $16 billion from such advertisements. This amount is approximately one tenth of the company’s total income. That is, Meta itself was admitting that a large part of its losses were related to fraud but instead of stopping it, it continued following the policy of ‘controlled loss’.
The documents state that Meta’s platforms deliver approximately 15 billion “high-risk scam ads” to users every day. The company’s systems knew that a large number of these were fraudulent advertisements. But Meta bans an advertiser only when it is 95% sure that he is committing fraud. If there is less suspicion then instead of banning them, Meta sells them expensive ad slots. That is, by taking more money from the swindlers, it shows them how the system can be dodged. The report shows several screenshots in which fake ads were run in the name of public figures and brands like McCormick and the White House.
Conflict between profits and security
The documents in the hands of Reuters are from 2021 to 2025. It shows that Meta’s internal teams were constantly vacillating between profit and security. The company itself had calculated how much revenue loss could be borne if strict action was taken against scam ads so that regulatory fines could be avoided. It was written in a report that “The security team should not take any such step which would cause loss of more than 0.15% of the total income of the company.” This means a loss of approximately $135 million, no more than what Meta was willing to bear.
‘If bank fraud is not tolerated then why tech fraud?’
Sandeep Abraham, former fraud investigator at Meta, said, “If banks are not allowed to make profits from fraud then why should tech companies be.” Meanwhile, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said that the figures given in the report are “overestimated” and the company takes “aggressive action” against fraudulent ads. He claimed that in the last 18 months, complaints about scam ads have decreased by 58% and in 2025 alone, 134 million fraudulent contents have been removed.
Still 1/3 scams on meta only
Despite this, Meta’s internal reports estimate that one-third of all online scams in the world occur on Meta’s platform. A May 2025 report read, “It is easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google.” A British agency said that in 2023, 54% of the total online payment fraud losses in the country were related to meta platforms.
When the user himself becomes a victim
Reuters cited the example of a Canadian Air Force recruiter, whose Facebook account was hacked and fraudulent crypto investment ads were run. Despite reports and complaints, it took weeks for Meta to block the account. By then many of his friends had lost money.
“Penalty Bid” for Scammers
Meta later introduced a “penalty bid system” in which questionable advertisers get ad space at higher prices. The company said that this would reduce fraud, but its effect was opposite and Meta’s earnings increased further. A line in internal documents says it all: “Our goal is not to reduce scams, but to limit the damage caused by them.” If all this proves to be true, then it is not only a reputational crisis for Meta but also a big question for the digital advertising industry. Is security and trust no longer worth it in the race for profits?
