Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is facing intense scrutiny after internal documents revealed that roughly **10% of its 2024 ad revenue — about $16 billion — may have come from advertising linked to scams and banned goods.
What the documents show
- The leaked internal filings estimate that “scam-ads and advertisements for banned goods” accounted for around 10.1% of Meta’s projected 2024 revenue.
- That equates to approximately $16 billion USD in 2024.
- About $7 billion annually is attributed to ads classified as “higher risk” by Meta’s internal categorisation.
- On average, one December 2024 internal document notes the company showed users an estimated 15 billion “higher-risk” scam advertisements every day.
- Meta’s internal enforcement policy reportedly required a fraud-certainty score of 95% before fully banning an advertising account, which limited pre-emptive action against many suspect advertisers.
Why this matters
- Revenue from potentially fraudulent sources: If Meta indeed earned ~$16 billion from scam or prohibited-goods ads, it raises serious ethical, regulatory, and reputational issues.
- Regulatory risk: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other global regulators are reportedly investigating Meta’s platforms for the role these ads played in financial scams.
- User safety implications: The documents suggest Meta’s platforms may have played a major role in enabling fraud, not just passive hosting of scam-ads. One internal memo claimed Meta was “involved in approximately a third of all successful scams in the U.S.”
- Business vs enforcement trade-offs: The documents show Meta weighing revenue loss from scam-ad enforcement, including a guardrail limiting ad account shutdowns that would cost more than 0.15% of revenue.
Meta’s response
Meta acknowledges the documents but says the figures are “rough and overly‐inclusive” and that they include many legitimate advertisers. A spokesperson said the company is aggressively fighting fraud and scams. India Today
Next steps to watch
- Whether Meta will revise its public disclosures and adjust its revenue recognition or reporting related to ad-fraud risk.
- Regulatory actions: fines or investigations from the SEC, UK regulators, or consumer-protection bodies.
- Changes to Meta’s ad-platform policies, enforcement thresholds, advertiser verification, and scam-ad detection.
- Impact on Meta’s reputation with advertisers and users — brands may react if ad-inventory is seen as unsafe or high-fraud.
- Whether other tech companies face similar revelations or pressure about ad-fraud revenue.
Conclusion
The internal estimate that Meta earned as much as $16 billion in 2024 from scam- and banned-goods ads marks a potentially significant turning point in how digital advertising platforms are held accountable. While Meta disputes the exact number, the documents highlight a major and systemic challenge: balancing ad-revenue growth with platform integrity and user trust.
