According to internal documents revealed by Reuters, users of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp see 15 billion ads a day promoting scams, from fake Trump stimulus checks to deepfakes of Elon Musk hawking cryptocurrency. The company reportedly knows this; Reuters said that its own trust and safety team estimated that one-third of scams in the US involved a Meta platform. So why hasn't Meta done more? Perhaps because these ads are apparently highly profitable, to the tune of $7 billion US or more a year.
Meta has been quietly profiting from a flood of fraudulent advertising that exposes billions of users to scams, according to internal company documents reviewed by Reuters. The social media giant projected it would earn approximately $16 billion, or 10% of its overall annual revenue, from running advertisements for scams and banned goods in 2024. The cache of previously unreported documents spanning from 2021 to this year reveals that Meta failed for at least three years
Meta on Monday announced an update to Facebook Groups that will allow admins to make their previously private groups public, without compromising the privacy of their existing members. The company said that past content will remain private after the conversion, and member lists will remain protected. Often, admins start their groups as private, thinking they will remain small, but then realize they could reach a much broader audience if they were easier to find.
Apple Maps may soon feature advertisements, marking a significant shift in the app's user experience. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is preparing to roll out sponsored listings as early as next year, allowing physical businesses like restaurants and retail stores to pay for placement in search results. In an effort to stand out from rivals, Apple is expected to leverage artificial intelligence to deliver more relevant ad placements.
Meta continues to invest big in the AI future, with the company today breaking ground on its latest data center project, a planned 1GW data facility, located in El Paso, Texas, which will enable Meta to "deliver top-tier AI models as we work to fulfill the possibilities of AI and build toward superintelligence." This will be a powerhouse data center optimized to support our growing AI workloads and will be essential to bringing our technologies to life.
