Last year, Meta predicted that 10% ($16 billion) of its total annual revenue would come from fraudulent ads on its apps, Reuters reported.
The documents, accessed by Reuters, also show that for three years, Meta failed to protect users from advertisements promoting illegal gambling, investment schemes and banned medical products. These fraudulent ads may purport to offer products or services that are not genuine and may be aimed at soliciting payment from uninformed users.
Meta has systems in place to detect when an ad campaign may be fraudulent, but the company will only disable an advertiser’s account if it is 95% certain that the advertiser is fraudulent. Otherwise, Meta will charge more money from advertisers it suspects may be committing fraud as a way to discourage further ad purchases. But if those advertisers comply anyway, Meta’s revenue will be inflated.
TechCrunch reached out to Meta for comment but did not receive a response prior to publication. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone claimed that the documents used by Reuters “represent a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and fraud,” according to a Reuters report.
Stone added that over the past 18 months, Meta has reduced user reports of fraudulent ads by 58%, and the company has removed more than 134 million fraudulent ads from its platform.
