US Senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal are calling for an investigation into Meta over its alleged role in profiting from scam-laden advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. The demand follows a Reuters investigation reportedly based on internal Meta documents that estimated that nearly 10% of Meta's 2024 revenue -- about $16 billion -- came from alleged "illicit advertising."
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the lawmakers urged regulators to "immediately open investigations and, if the reporting is accurate, pursue vigorous enforcement action … to force Meta to disgorge profits, pay penalties and agree to cease running such advertisements."
One document reportedly alleged that Meta earned $3.5 billion in just six months from what it classified as "higher-risk" scam ads.
The same internal records reportedly suggested that many ads allegedly violating fraud rules were permitted to run because they "did not apply to many ads… [that staff] believed 'violated the spirit' of its rules against scam advertising."
Meta denies all of these allegations.
Read also: Meta's All In on AI Creating the Ads You See on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp
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Why this matters for you
The scale of this alleged fraud raises serious concerns about Meta's business model. Many question whether the company is doing enough to police its ad ecosystem, given that a major revenue stream appears to be tied to deceptive or outright fraudulent campaigns.
The senators allege that Meta's lax enforcement -- combined with the continued presence of gambling ads, payment scams, political deepfakes and other dangerous content in its public Ad Library -- underscores significant risks.
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