"According to internal documents seen by Reuters, Meta estimates that an astounding 10 percent of its overall revenue comes from advertising for scams and banned goods. That "10 percent" equates to a not an insignificant sum of $16 billion. Another document showed that Meta earns around $7 billion per year from advertising specifically marked as "higher risk"-adverts that it knows are problematic, but runs anyway despite potential issues for platform users."
"As you'd expect, Meta wasn't particularly thrilled with Reuters' data. Speaking to Reuters, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the documents seen by Reuters "present a selective view that distorts Meta's approach to fraud and scams." Stone declined to update Reuters with the latest figures regarding its profits from scam advertising and false product placements. However, he added that Meta's divisions "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.""
Internal Meta documents estimate roughly 10 percent of overall revenue—about $16 billion—comes from ads for scams and banned goods. The documents also report about $7 billion annually from advertising labeled as higher-risk that Meta continues to run despite known problems. The records were compiled across finance, lobbying, engineering, and safety divisions covering 2021–2024. The revenue figures create a conflict between monetization incentives and user safety, as engagement and ad income can discourage aggressive removal of scam content. Meta publicly denied the characterization and stated that its teams work to combat fraud and scams.
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