A bombshell investigation by Reuters has uncovered internal documents revealing that Meta knowingly profits from scam advertisements on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to the tune of billions of dollars annually.
The five-year trail of internal documents paints a troubling picture of a tech giant that prioritized revenue over user safety, even as its platforms exposed billions of people to fraudulent content every single day.
Meta Documents Reveal Company Reluctance to Remove High-Revenue Scam Accounts
According to Meta’s own estimates, users across its platforms encounter a staggering 15 billion “high risk” scam ads daily.
That’s in addition to 22 billion organic scam attempts that users face each day. Last year alone, the company projected that approximately $16 billion, roughly 10 percent of its total revenue, would come from scam advertisements.
Even more concerning, a 2024 internal document revealed that Meta’s systems actively helped scammers find their marks. The company’s ad-personalization technology, designed to show users content based on their interests, was inadvertently creating a feedback loop where people who clicked on scam ads would see even more fraudulent content.
The documents show Meta was reluctant to remove accounts quickly, even those internally identified as some of the “scammiest scammers.” The reason? A sudden drop in revenue could hurt the company’s ability to invest in artificial intelligence development.
Instead of shutting down bad actors, Meta allowed “high value accounts” to rack up more than 500 strikes without being removed. Bizarrely, the company actually charged higher ad rates to these repeat offenders, essentially penalizing scammers while still taking their money.
Meta Accused of Deliberately Slow Approach to Curbing $7 Billion Scam Ad Business
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone pushed back against the reporting, claiming the documents present a “selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams.” He argued that the revenue estimate was “rough and overly-inclusive,” but declined to provide the actual figure.
The scam ads identified in the investigation ran the gamut from fake product sales to investment schemes. Some promoted banned medical products, while others were linked to illegal online casinos. Reuters found ads impersonating Elon Musk offering “gifts” to users, fake messages from Donald Trump promising tariff relief payments, and even bogus law firms pretending to help people avoid online scams.
Meta only removed these specific ads after Reuters flagged them. In 2024, the company earned about $7 billion from such “high-risk” advertisements alone.
Internal documents suggest Meta took a deliberately measured approach to cracking down on scams. A 2024 document showed the company planned a “moderate” enforcement strategy, aiming to reduce revenue from scams, illegal gambling, and prohibited goods by just 1-3 percentage points annually.
Meta’s Ad Integrity Dilemma, Revenue vs. Regulation
In February 2025, Meta reportedly told the team responsible for vetting questionable advertisers that they couldn’t take actions costing the company more than 0.15 percent of total revenue, roughly $135 million per account. The team’s manager warned staff to “be cautious” about blocking potentially “benign” ads.
Former Meta safety investigator Sandeep Abraham, who now runs fraud consultancy Risky Business Solutions, believes regulators need to step in. “If regulators wouldn’t tolerate banks profiting from fraud, they shouldn’t tolerate it in tech,” he told Reuters.
Rob Leathern, who previously led Meta’s business integrity unit, argues that platforms should notify users when they’ve clicked on scam ads, giving them a chance to protect themselves before losing money. He also suggests that companies donate profits from scam ads to fund educational nonprofits that teach people how to recognize fraud.
Meta claims it has made improvements, reducing user reports of scam ads globally by 58 percent over 18 months and removing more than 134 million pieces of scam ad content so far in 2025. However, the company’s own internal assessments this spring estimated that Meta’s platforms were involved in a third of all successful scams in the United States.
The revelations raise serious questions about whether major tech platforms can be trusted to police themselves when doing so might hurt their bottom line.
