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Leaked Meta Files Tie Scam Ads to 10% of 2024 Revenue as Company Pushes Back

Internal rules required 95% certainty to ban advertisers, a bar the documents say favored monetization over removal.

Overview

  • A December 2024 analysis estimated Meta showed users about 15 billion higher‑risk scam ads each day across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
  • Another late‑2024 document pegged roughly $7 billion in annualized revenue from these clearly deceptive ad categories.
  • The materials describe enforcement that penalized suspected scammers with higher ad rates, set a 95% confidence bar to disable accounts, and let small advertisers accrue at least eight flags and some big spenders more than 500 strikes.
  • Strategy papers detailed tradeoffs that weighed revenue losses against potential fines and prioritized tougher enforcement in regions with steeper penalties.
  • Meta called the 10% revenue estimate rough and overly inclusive and says user reports of scam ads fell 58% as it removed more than 134 million pieces of scam ad content in 2025.