Meta makes a fortune from fraudulent advertising (which would bring in 10% of its revenue)

In 2024, Meta would have pocketed approximately $16 billion through fraudulent advertising.

Fraudulent advertising is reportedly filling Meta’s coffers. Last year alone, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram allegedly earned approximately $16 billion from this type of advertising, according to Reuters, based on internal company documents they have accessed. If the figures cited by Reuters are accurate, fraudulent advertising will have contributed 10% of Meta’s revenue by 2024.

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp users are bombarded daily with an average of 15 billion ads that appear to be fraudulent. Meta has, however, come forward to assert that the figures reported by Reuters are raw numbers that have not been previously screened, meaning the company’s actual revenue from advertising illegal drugs, gambling, and scams is considerably lower.

A company spokesperson insists that many of the ads that appear to be fraudulent on its platforms ultimately turn out to be entirely legitimate. Meta, however, does not provide specific figures regarding the revenue generated by fraudulent advertising on its domains and simply emphasizes that «we aggressively combat fraud.» «Users don’t want that kind of content, ads don’t want it, and we reject it,» asserts the Meta spokesperson, who also stresses that complaints directly related to fraudulent advertising have plummeted by 58% worldwide over the past year and a half.

According to Reuters, internal Meta documents accessed by the agency indicate that the company has an internal system that automatically alerts it to fraudulent advertising campaigns. However, advertisers would only be removed from Meta’s platforms if there is greater than 95% certainty that their activities are fraudulent. And in those cases where fraud is not clear, the company would simply raise the prices of the ads to try to contain their mass dissemination.

Meta insists it is aggressively combating fraudulent advertising on its domains.

The avalanche of fraudulent advertising taking place under the Meta umbrella represents a major problem for users, who are left at the mercy of fraudulent ads that can eventually lead to scams. Furthermore, if a user clicks on these types of ads, Meta’s recommendation algorithm ends up showing them more of them.

Sandeep Abraham, a fraud researcher and former Meta Intelligence Manager, criticizes his former employer for allegedly accepting money from criminals. «If the authorities don’t tolerate banks profiting from fraudulent activities, they shouldn’t tolerate this type of behavior from technology companies either,» insists Abraham, who currently heads the consulting firm Risky Business Solutions.

Meanwhile, former prosecutor Erin West alleges that Meta systematically ignores user complaints regarding suspected cases of fraud. “I don’t know of a single case where an ad has been blocked after user complaints,” says West.

Even though Meta claims to be actively combating fraud on its platforms, the truth is that implementing truly effective containment measures to stop fraudulent advertising on its domains could end up resulting in a drastic drop in revenue, Reuters reports. For this reason, and although Meta has reportedly decided to increase controls on advertisers suspected of fraudulent activity, it may have done so simply to appease the authorities, since the revenue generated by fraudulent advertising would still be higher than the fines associated with this type of advertising. Meta, however, denies this and asserts that it blatantly contradicts company policies.

Internal documents reviewed by Reuters suggest that the terms and conditions benefiting criminals who advertise on Meta’s platforms are subject to numerous legal loopholes, making it quite easy for those placing ads there to evade potential fraud charges and continue their advertising activities as normal.

Source: www.marketingdirecto.com