Meta Documents Reveal Company Estimates Scam Ads Accounted for Over $10 Billion in 2024 Revenue
MENLO PARK, CA – November 12, 2025 – Internal Meta documents reviewed by Reuters indicate the social media giant internally estimated that fraudulent and policy-violating advertisements generated approximately 10.1% of its total advertising revenue for 2024. This equates to over $10 billion, based on Meta’s reported $101.98 billion in ad revenue for the year. The revelation raises serious questions about Meta’s handling of deceptive advertising practices and its impact on users.
The documents detail a calculated, if controversial, strategy to combat scam activity: increasing advertising costs for advertisers flagged as potentially fraudulent. This serves as a financial deterrent, discouraging suspicious actors from utilizing the platform. Together, Meta’s algorithms, designed to personalize ad delivery based on user interests, inadvertently amplify the reach of scam advertisements to individuals who have already engaged wiht similar content, creating a feedback loop of deception.
According to internal assessments, Meta platforms were linked to roughly one-third of all triumphant fraud cases in the United States as of May 2025. A Meta internal review from April 2025 further concluded that its platforms are more susceptible to fraudulent advertising than those of competitor Google, though the report did not elaborate on the specific reasons for this disparity.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone acknowledged the documents but characterized them as “a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams.” he stated the initial 10.1% estimate was “an approximate and overly broad” figure, later revised downward after including a significant number of legitimate advertisements within the calculation.Stone declined to provide updated figures.
The findings underscore a growing concern that Meta’s platforms have become a central hub for a global fraud economy, impacting millions of users and raising questions about the company’s duty in protecting them from financial harm. The documents suggest a continuing internal struggle within Meta to balance revenue generation with user safety and platform integrity.
