According to documents reviewed by Reuters, Meta Platforms projected that around 10 % of its annual revenue for 2024 came from ads promoting scams, banned products or dubious offers — a figure internally estimated at about US $16 billion.
The documents indicate that Meta claimed its systems were exposed to an average of 15 billion “higher-risk” scam advertisements each day across its social platforms. While the company states it has since removed billions of pieces of content and invested heavily in ad-integrity efforts, the scale of the problem suggests deep structural vulnerabilities.
Regulators in the U.S. and U.K. are intensifying scrutiny of Meta’s advertising business, especially its algorithms and moderation practices. The disclosures raise broader questions about the responsibility of large social-media platforms to monitor ad content and about potential impacts on legitimate advertisers and users.

Key Highlights
• Meta internally estimated that ~10 % of its 2024 revenue derived from scam-linked and banned-goods advertisements (≈ US $16 billion).
• The company estimated it served about 15 billion daily “higher-risk” scam ads across its platforms.
• Documents show Meta’s penalty-bidding system for likely fraudsters: charging higher ad rates when certainty of wrongdoing is below 95 %.
• Meta says it has removed over 134 million pieces of scam-related content so far in 2025 and aims for large reductions in such ads by end-year.
• The disclosures come as Meta invests heavily in AI and ad infrastructure while defending itself against increasing regulatory pressure.

Why This Matters
• Large-scale ad fraud going through one of the world’s biggest platforms underscores the challenge of online-ad moderation and the gap between intent and execution.
• For advertisers and consumers, the revelation may undermine trust in social-media platforms and inflate concerns about legitimacy of digital ads and user safety.
• From a regulatory standpoint, this could trigger more aggressive oversight, fines or changes in legal obligations for platforms — especially in jurisdictions with strong consumer-protection regimes.
• For Meta’s business model, the reliance on advertising revenue means that any material reduction in these “higher-risk” streams could impact margins, growth forecasts and investor sentiment.

Source
Reuters – Full Article