Recently, internal documents from Meta have come to light, uncovering a startling reality: approximately 10% of the company's 2024 revenue, amounting to $16 billion, was derived from fraudulent and contraband advertisements. Among these, 'high-risk' fraudulent ads alone generated an estimated annual revenue of around $7 billion. The advertising business of Meta exhibits significant vulnerabilities, as it has consistently failed over the past three years to effectively identify and block a substantial number of ads that violate regulations, thereby exposing billions of users to the risk of fraud. About one-third of fraud cases in the U.S. can be traced back to Meta, with a considerable portion of fraudulent ads originating from advertisers labeled as 'suspicious.'

Meta's control system adopts a rather lax approach, only banning ads when the probability of fraud surpasses 95%. What's more, it even charges higher rates to suspicious advertisers who do not meet the ban criteria. Additionally, its review policies tend to favor major clients, while its ad personalization system inadvertently traps users in a relentless cycle of fraudulent ads. Meta has acknowledged that its products have inadvertently become a significant component of the global fraud economy.

Although Meta has expressed intentions to reduce revenue from fraudulent ads, it remains apprehensive about the potential impact on its overall business. Consequently, it has set a cap on potential revenue losses. The company claims that it has taken steps to reduce the number of fraudulent ads reported by users and has deleted a substantial amount of fraudulent ad content. Nevertheless, the issue of fraudulent ads at Meta has attracted intense scrutiny from global regulatory agencies.