Meta response exposed for generating billions of dollars through fraudulent advertising revenue: rough estimate, too broad scope

On November 9th, according to media reports, Meta was recently exposed for earning huge profits through massive fraudulent advertisements.

According to its internal documents, about 10% of the company’s revenue in 2024, which is approximately $16 billion (about RMB 114 billion), comes from fraudulent advertising and prohibited product advertising, highlighting loopholes in its advertising business regulation.

According to CCTV News, a spokesperson for Meta stated that they have “actively” dealt with the relevant advertisements, emphasizing that the 10% of last year’s revenue from fraudulent and prohibited product advertisements is a “rough and broad estimate”, and subsequent reviews have found that many advertisements did not violate regulations.

At the same time, it was pointed out that the leaked documents had a “one-sided perspective” and did not reflect all the measures taken by the company to solve the problem.

According to internal documents, Meta has failed to identify and prevent a large number of illegal advertisements for at least three years, exposing billions of users on its platforms Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to investment scams, prohibited medical products, and other content.

According to internal estimates of the company, the platform pushes approximately 15 billion fraudulent advertisements to users every day.