Meta earns an estimated $16 billion from scam-linked ads, internal documents reveal

Internal company documents obtained by Reuters show that Meta Platforms projected it would generate about 10 % of its 2024 revenue — roughly $16 billion — from advertisements tied to scams and banned goods on its platforms.

A cache of internal Meta documents reviewed by Reuters covers the period 2021-2025 and reveals that Meta estimated around 15 billion “higher-risk” scam advertisements were being shown to users each day in December 2024.The documents indicate Meta believed it was involved in roughly one-third of all successful scams in the U.S., and that scammers favour Meta’s platforms because they are “easier to advertise on than Google”.

The documents further show that Meta’s enforcement threshold is set at at least 95 % certainty of fraud before banning an advertiser; if the certainty is lower, Meta may instead levy higher ad-rates (“penalty bids”) on those advertisers rather than shut them down.One internal memo states that from late 2024, Meta’s goal was to reduce the share of revenue derived from scam ads from an estimated 10.1 % in 2024 to 7.3 % by end-2025 and to 6 % by end-2026.

In response, Meta has stated that the 10.1 % figure was a “rough and overly-inclusive estimate” and not an official revenue figure. The company emphasises that it removed more than 134 million pieces of scam ad content in 2025 and that its efforts to combat such ads are ongoing.

For business, regulatory and gambling-industry stakeholders the revelations carry significant implications: Meta’s ad-engine is a vehicle for scam and banned-goods advertising on a massive scale, potentially distorting competition, inflating pricing for legitimate advertisers, and exposing operators and affiliates to reputational or regulatory risk.