From fraudulent investments, illegal medical products or iGaming, the social media giant rakes in billions from scam adverts…

Internal documents uncovered by Reuters have shown that Meta planned to generate around $16bn, or 10% of its 2024 revenues, from advertising online scams, banned goods and illegal online gambling and estimated that its platforms publishes 15 billion “higher risk” adverts for scams every day while charging the advertisers a premium for running the ads.

The data also showed that the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp failed to prevent and identify “an avalanche” of advertising messages for at least three years, in the process exposing “billions of users to fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, illegal online casinos, and the sale of banned medical products”. It recorded around $7bn from those adverts per year, according to a late 2024 internal document.

The files reveal that Meta was planning to cut the share of Facebook and Instagram revenue derived from scam ads. It also acknowledged that regulatory fines for the adverts were certain and would amount to around $1bn, although even a fine at that level would be a fraction of the overall revenues Meta generated from the scam adverts.

In addition, rather than taking preemptive measures to increase its vetting of advertisers, the online giant’s leadership decided to only act “in response to impending regulatory action”.

The information corroborates numerous updates from iGaming executives in regulated markets, who regularly denounce the fact that illegal operators can advertise freely on the networks, often using the brand names and logos of renowned gambling brands to lure players in before redirecting them to their sites.

Reuters added that an April 2025 internal review by Meta found that “it is easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google”, but doesn’t explain the reasons behind the findings. A spokesperson for Meta told Reuters that the documents “present a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams” and that the estimate 10% of its 2024 revenues came from scam adverts  was “rough and overly-inclusive”.

Sandeep Abraham, a former Meta safety investigator, told Reuters that “if regulators wouldn’t tolerate banks profiting from fraud, they shouldn’t tolerate it in tech”.