Senators Press FTC, SEC to Investigate Meta Over Alleged Profits From Scam Ads

In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the senators referenced a Reuters report detailing how Meta allegedly benefited from advertising on Facebook and Instagram that promoted fraudulent schemes and banned goods. “The FTC and SEC should immediately open investigations and, if the reporting is accurate, pursue vigorous enforcement action where appropriate” to force Meta to disgorge profits, pay penalties and halt the ads, Hawley and Blumenthal wrote.

Per a Reuters account earlier this month, internal Meta documents from late 2024 indicated the company expected roughly 10% of its annual revenue—about $16 billion—to come from illicit ads. One document stated Meta generated $3.5 billion every six months from “higher risk” scam promotions. Other internal materials suggested that Meta’s anti-fraud policies did not appear to cover a large share of ads that regulators and employees believed “violated the spirit” of the company’s own rules.

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In response to the Reuters reporting, Meta said it had cut user scam reports by 58% over the past year and a half. The letter from Hawley and Blumenthal, however, challenged Meta’s assurances. Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the senators’ letter “makes claims that are exaggerated and wrong,” adding, “We aggressively fight fraud and scams because people on our platforms don’t want this content, legitimate advertisers don’t want it and we don’t want it either.”

Read more: Spanish Court Orders Meta to Pay €479 Million to Local Media in Data Privacy Dispute

Hawley, a Missouri Republican, and Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, raised concerns about what they described as widespread illicit ads still visible in Meta’s public “ad library.” They wrote that “even a short review” of the database showed clear examples of illicit gambling, payment scams, crypto fraud, AI-driven deepfake sexual content, and fabricated offers of federal benefits.

Citing Reuters reporting, the senators noted that Meta estimated its platforms were implicated in a third of all U.S. scams and pointed to an FTC assessment that Americans lost $158.3 billion to scams last year. “This would suggest Meta was responsible for more than $50 billion in consumer loss,” they wrote.

The lawmakers accused Meta of knowingly permitting fraudulent advertising while cutting safety staff, including personnel involved in FTC-mandated reviews, even as the company increased investment in generative AI initiatives. They expressed specific alarm over deceptive ads impersonating government agencies or political leaders. As one example, the letter highlighted a fake advertisement claiming that President Donald Trump was offering $1,000 to individuals receiving food assistance. “While Meta has been warned about advertisement deepfakes impersonating politicians, it still continues to run fraudulent clips,” the letter states. The senators wrote that many of the perpetrators behind such campaigns were cybercrime groups based in China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Source: Reuters