Santa Clara County Takes on Meta Scam Ads in Lawsuit | KQED

"Santa Clara County is suing Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, alleging the company is enabling and profiting from billions of scam advertisements circulating on its sites. County Counsel Tony LoPresti said the company earns an estimated $7 billion in annual revenue from "fraudulent or otherwise prohibited advertisements" alone, in some cases by allegedly charging scammers a premium to post the ads."

""Meta might be a massive power broker in Silicon Valley and throughout the world, but Meta is not a company above the law," LoPresti said during a press conference on Monday morning announcing the legal action."

""We aggressively fight scams on and off our platforms because they're not good for us or the people and businesses that rely on our services. We removed over 159 million scam ads last year alone, launched new tools to protect people and partnered with law enforcement around the globe to disrupt these criminals," the statement said."

"LoPresti said in an interview that the company frequently touts the work it does against scams, while it is simultaneously "putting handcuffs on the fraud prevention teams" it employs. "What our complaint alleges is that they have told those fraud prevention teams that they can't do anything that actually impacts revenue by more than 0.15% of Meta's total overall revenue," LoPresti said."

Santa Clara County filed a civil lawsuit against Meta, alleging Meta enables and profits from billions of scam advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. County Counsel Tony LoPresti said Meta earns an estimated $7 billion annually from fraudulent or prohibited advertisements and sometimes charges scammers a premium to post ads. LoPresti said Meta is not above the law. A Meta spokesperson said the company will fight the lawsuit and claimed the action and reporting distort Meta’s motives and ignore its efforts to combat scams. The spokesperson said Meta removed over 159 million scam ads last year, launched protective tools, and partnered with law enforcement. LoPresti said Meta limits fraud-prevention teams’ ability to affect revenue beyond 0.15% of total revenue.

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