"Gallego and Moreno cited Reuters reporting from November of internal documents that showed Meta failed to identify and stop ads that exposed its platforms' users to several fraudulent schemes, including illegal online casinos and illicit product sales. An internal document estimated that users are shown 15 billion scam ads a day, and the company projected in late 2024 that it would earn roughly $16 billion - about 10 percent of its annual revenue - from running scam ads."
""Scammers are using social media to swindle Americans out of their hard-earned savings, and right now, those platforms face almost no consequences for letting it happen," Gallego said in a statement. "If a company is making money from running ads on their site, it has a responsibility to make sure those ads aren't fraudulent," he continued. Though Meta dismissed the reported figures as"
Senators Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) introduced the Safeguarding Consumers from Advertising Misconduct (SCAM) Act to require online platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent fraudulent or deceptive advertisements. The bill mandates verification of paid advertisers before ads run, provides users better tools to report suspected fraud, and strengthens the Federal Trade Commission's and states' ability to enforce consumer protection laws. Reuters internal documents cited failures by Meta to stop scam ads, estimated 15 billion scam ads shown daily and projected roughly $16 billion in revenue from such ads. An FTC report found over $3 billion lost to online-started scams in 2024.
Read at The Hill
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]