Overview
- Republican Josh Hawley and Democrat Richard Blumenthal sent a bipartisan letter asking the FTC and SEC to open investigations and pursue enforcement if the findings hold.
- Their letter cites Reuters’ reporting that internal Meta documents projected about $16 billion in 2024 revenue from illicit ads and $3.5 billion every six months from higher-risk scam ads.
- The senators seek disgorgement of profits, civil penalties, and measures to stop the ads, arguing Meta’s platforms were involved in roughly a third of U.S. scams last year.
- They reference FTC data on $158.3 billion in consumer scam losses and point to examples in Meta’s Ad Library, including crypto and gambling scams, AI deepfake sex services, fake federal benefits, and a bogus ad impersonating President Donald Trump.
- Meta says the claims are exaggerated and wrong, asserts it aggressively fights fraud, and reports a 58% drop in user scam reports over 18 months, while no formal FTC or SEC probes have been announced.