Bangkok: Meta is reportedly monetizing Facebook users' suffering by releasing 15 billion high-risk fraudulent ads per day. Foreign news agencies reported that Meta has made huge profits from fraudulent ads following a leaked internal document. The document stated that the total revenue forecast for 2024 will come from ads related to fraud and prohibited goods up to 10%, valued at $16 billion.
According to Thai News Agency, the document revealed that in a single day, Meta displays more than 15 billion high-risk fraudulent ads on its platform, generating more than $7 billion in revenue annually. This includes fraudulent schemes related to e-commerce, investment, online gambling, and the sale of prohibited medical products. Many of the ads come from questionable marketers and are detected by Meta's automated systems. The document also states that Meta will only ban advertisers if its system predicts a 95% certainty of fraud, and will charge a higher ad rate as a penalty if the system misses the mark. An internal audit in April 2025 found that fraudulent advertising on Meta's platform is easier to advertise on than on Google.
Meta expects to face fines of up to $1 billion, far less than the $3.5 billion it earns every six months from fraudulent ads, while the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Meta for financial fraudulent ads. In the UK, victims of hacked Facebook accounts used in cryptocurrency scams lost over $28,000, a 54% increase, in 2023, and 96% of valid complaints were ignored in the same year.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone clarified that the document misrepresents Meta's approach to fraud, saying the 10% revenue estimate is a rough estimate. He also confirmed that the company takes fraud seriously, and that over the past 18 months, Meta has resolved 58% of fraud reports on its platform.