Two senators accuse Meta of making $16 billion from "fraudulent" ads
According to Senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal, these ads included illicit gambling and various financial scams, among other things.
Hawley in the Senate/ Andrew Caballero- Reynolds
Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) push for an investigation against Meta for allegedly profiting millions from "fraudulent" ads. The bipartisan duo sent a letter addressed to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins.
The letter cites a recent report by Reuters, which indicates that 10% of Meta's total revenue comes from "fraudulent" ads, which would amount to approximately $16 billion.
"A series of unpublished documents reviewed by Reuters also reveal that, for at least three years, the social media giant failed to identify and stop a flood of adsthat exposed Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp's billions of users to e-commerce and fraudulent investment scams, illegal online casinos and the sale of banned medical products," they reported from the aforementioned media outlet.
According to the senators, these ads includedillegal gambling, payment scams, cryptocurrency scams, deepfake sexual services with AI and bogus federal benefits offers. They also stated that they do not expect Meta to act against this content "unless the FTC and SEC root them out."
"Meta’s central, facilitating role in scams against consumers is unprecedented: by its own employees’ assessment, Meta was involved in one-third of all successful scams in the US and was unmatched by other Big Tech platforms," Hawley and Blumenthal wrote.
In turn, they encouraged the agencies to investigate the matter and, if confirmed, to take action that includes "fully disgorge all profits from fraudulent advertisements, impose steep civil penalties, hold individual executives personally accountable, and seek binding terms to end this scourge on consumers, our economy, and our national security."
"Meta’s ill-gotten gains appear to be no accident: it has made conscious choices based on business considerations that turned a blind eye and enabled it to profit from illicit advertisementss," the bipartisan group of senators added.
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