Meta has a $16 billion scam problem (or revenue)

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Meta would really like you to believe it’s the hero of the internet, bravely battling misinformation, bots, and bad vibes. 

But according to a new Reuters report, there’s another booming business on Facebook and Instagram, scams, and Meta is making billions off them.

How many billions? Internal estimates say up to 10 percent of Meta’s total ad revenue may come from scam ads. 

That’s around $16 billion a year, which is less “pocket change” and more “small country GDP.” 

We’re talking fake investment schemes, shady e-commerce, illegal casinos, and medical products the FDA definitely did not sign off on. 

One internal stat is especially wild: Meta’s apps were reportedly involved in one-third of all successful scams in the US.

You’d think Meta’s response would be to go full digital SWAT team, but nope. The report says the company’s systems are so forgiving that a scammer has to be flagged eight times before being blocked. 

And that’s just for the small fry. If you’re a big ad spender? You allegedly get 500+ strikes before Meta even thinks about removing you. (Meanwhile, a normal user gets sent to account jail for posting a meme from 2014.)

Why the leniency? Because scam ads make money. A lot of money. Four scam campaigns removed this year alone brought Meta $67 million, and that’s just the stuff they actually deleted. 

At one point, managers were reportedly told not to crack down too hard if enforcement would cost the company more than 0.15% of revenue.  

Fight scams, but not at the expense of yacht fuel.

Meta’s public response? The 10 percent number is “rough and overly-inclusive.” They say they’ve cut scam reports by 58 percent and removed 134 million scam ads this year.

Which sounds great, until you remember Meta is deleting scam ads it also profited from in the first place.

Scams are thriving, Meta is cashing in, and the only people losing are, well, literally everyone else.