Overview
- Internal documents reviewed by Reuters show about 19% of Meta’s roughly $18 billion in Chinese advertiser spending was linked to scams, illegal gambling, pornography, and other banned content, totaling over $3 billion.
- A China-focused anti-fraud team formed in 2024 cut abusive ads by about 10% before it was asked to pause and was later disbanded after CEO Mark Zuckerberg weighed in, according to the documents.
- Following the pause and disbanding, the share of scams in China-driven ad revenue rebounded to roughly 16% by mid-2025.
- Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the team was always intended to be temporary and that Zuckerberg’s guidance was to redouble efforts to reduce fraud globally, including in China.
- U.S. Senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have asked the FTC and SEC to investigate Meta’s role in facilitating and profiting from fraudulent and other banned ads.