It appears that while Meta (formerly Facebook) wants users to believe it is dedicated to keeping them safe as they navigate its social platforms, the company is simultaneously earning significant ad revenue from scam and fraudulent advertisements. This information comes from internal financial documents at Meta, obtained and reviewed by Reuters.
According to these documents, Meta internally projected in 2024 that about 10 percent of its full-year revenue would come from advertisements that were scams or offered banned goods. Other documents detail a substantial surge in fraudulent e-commerce, investment, gambling, and medical product ads that reportedly went undetected and unaddressed for roughly three years across Meta’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Additional internal communications from December 2024 indicated that Meta was showing users as many as 15 billion “higher risk” ads each day—ads that could be clearly identified as scams. These ads allegedly generated about $7 billion in annualized revenue for the company.
This is not the first time Facebook or Meta has faced scrutiny for seemingly prioritizing revenue over the safety of its users. Many will recall the 2021 revelations from whistleblower Frances Haugen. Before the company’s rebrand to Meta, Haugen exposed practices that involved reducing safeguards against toxic content and misinformation on Facebook, citing a clear “profit over safety” approach within the company.
As these documents demonstrate, Meta continues to face questions about balancing user safety with its pursuit of advertising dollars.
https://www.shacknews.com/article/146740/meta-2024-revenue-scam-ads