A Meta representative has stated that the company “aggressively combats scams.”
A class-action lawsuit was recently filed in Washington, D.C. against Meta, accusing the company of misleading Facebook users about scam advertisements and profiting from them. Filed by Tycko and Zavareei LLP and Tech Justice Law, the complaint was lodged on April 21 under the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act on behalf of the Consumer Federation of America and Facebook users in Washington, D.C. It claims that while Meta outwardly asserts its fight against scams, internal documents reveal the company is making substantial profits from these scams. According to reports published by Reuters in December 2025, Meta is earning billions from scam ads.
The lawsuit documents indicate that in 2024, Meta anticipated generating roughly 10 percent of its revenue, approximately $16 billion, from ads promoting scams and banned products. It is reported users encounter 15 billion high-risk scam ads daily. Moreover, Meta allegedly charged these advertisers higher fees and dismissed 96 percent of legitimate user fraud complaints.
In a press release, Sarah Kay Wiley, an attorney and managing director at Tech Justice Law, stated, “Meta has, as a matter of company policy, deliberately profited from rampant, inexcusable harm to users on its platforms. Meta told its users it was fighting fraud. Internally, it was charging scammers a premium for access to those same users. That is not a failure of enforcement, that is a business model built on predatory deception.”
Responding to the lawsuit, a Meta spokesperson told Mashable, “These allegations misrepresent the reality of our work and we will fight them. We aggressively combat scams across our platforms to protect people and businesses — last year alone, we removed over 159 million scam ads, 92 percent of which we took down before anyone reported them, and took down 10.9 million accounts on Facebook and Instagram associated with criminal scam centers. We fight scams because they are bad for business — people don’t want them, advertisers don’t want them, and we don’t want them either.”
The complaint comes after Meta’s recent announcement of new solutions to combat scams on Facebook and Instagram, which involve collaboration with law enforcement. However, in past years Meta has faced criticism for rejecting ads from legitimate businesses, such as the sex toy shop Unbound until they used misleading ads targeting men, and the healthcare platform Daye.
Topics: Meta, Scams