US Senators Call For Scam Ads On Facebook And Instagram To Be Investigated
US senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal are calling on the heads of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to open an investigation regarding revenue made from ads on Facebook and Instagram that are promoting scams 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 agree to cease running such advertisements,” both Hawley and Blumenthal wrote to the federal agencies.
It was reported earlier this month that internal documents from late 2024 stated that Meta was projected to earn 10% of its overall revenue from illicit advertising, which equated to around $16 billion. One document stated that Meta earned around $3.5 billion in revenue from “higher risk” scam advertisements every six months.
Documents also stated that Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has anti-fraud rules that don’t apply to a lot of these advertisements.
In response to the report, which came from Reuters, Meta stated that they reduced user reports of scams by 58% throughout the last 18 months.
Meta spokesman, Andy Stone, said:
“[The Hawley-Blumenthal letter] makes claims that are exaggerated and wrong, 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.”
Both Hawley and Blumenthal expressed their skepticism over Meta’s work to combat illicit advertising, pointing out the company’s “ad library,” which is a publicly accessible database of advertising on Meta’s social media platforms.
“Even a short review of Meta’s Ad Library at the time of this letter shows clearly identifiable advertisements for illicit gambling, payment scams, crypto scams, AI deepfake sex services, and fake offers of federal benefits,” they said.
“Scams have been allowed to take over Facebook and Instagram as Meta has drastically cut its safety staff, including for FTC mandated reviews, even as it dumps unimaginable sums into its generative AI projects.”
“While Meta has been warned about advertisement deepfakes impersonating politicians, it still continues to run fraudulent clips,” their letter writes.
“The beneficiaries of these scams are often cybercrime groups based in China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Philippines.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
