Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is under scrutiny following a report by Reuters that claims the tech giant generated about 10% of its total revenue in 2024 — roughly $16 billion — from online ads linked to scams and illegal activities.
According to the report, internal Meta documents showed that a significant portion of the company’s ad income came from promotions involving fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, illegal online gambling platforms, and the sale of banned or unapproved medical products.
These ads were said to have run across Meta’s social media platforms, raising serious concerns about the company’s advertising policies and content monitoring systems.
Meta, however, denied the accuracy of the estimate. A company spokesperson stated that Meta “aggressively removes scam and policy-violating ads”, insisting that the figures mentioned in the report were “rough and overly inclusive.”
The spokesperson further explained that Meta invests heavily in artificial intelligence tools and human moderation to detect and take down misleading or illegal ads, emphasizing that the company does not profit from harmful or deceptive content.
Still, the report has renewed debates about Meta’s role in the global digital advertising ecosystem, where billions of dollars flow through platforms that often struggle to police fraudulent or illicit activities effectively.
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