Meta is profiting massively from fraudulent advertisements across Facebook and Instagram, with internal documents revealing the company projected $16 billion - 10% of its total annual revenue - would come from scam ads last year. The revelation exposes how the social media giant's business model directly benefits from fake investment schemes, illegal gambling promotions, and banned medical product ads that target vulnerable users.
Meta just got caught with its hand in the cookie jar, and the cookies are worth $16 billion. Internal documents obtained by Reuters reveal that the social media giant projected 10% of its entire annual revenue would come from fraudulent advertisements across Facebook and Instagram last year.
The bombshell findings paint a disturbing picture of how one of the world's largest advertising platforms operates. For three consecutive years, Meta systematically failed to protect its 3.9 billion users from a deluge of scam ads promoting everything from illegal gambling operations to fake investment schemes and banned medical products. These aren't accidental oversights - they're revenue streams the company actively tracks and profits from.
Here's where it gets really damning: Meta has sophisticated fraud detection systems that can identify potentially fraudulent advertising campaigns. But instead of shutting them down when red flags appear, the company only deactivates accounts when it's 95% certain fraud is occurring. That's an impossibly high bar that essentially guarantees most scammers keep operating.
For advertisers that fall below that 95% threshold - meaning Meta suspects they're running scams but can't prove it definitively - the company employs a cynical strategy. It charges these suspected fraudsters higher advertising rates, ostensibly to discourage them from continuing. But when scammers pay the premium anyway, Meta pockets the extra cash. It's protection money in reverse.