Meta Faces Scrutiny As Senators Link Facebook & Instagram To Billions In Scam Ad Revenue
In a response, from Andy Stone, Meta states that the letter "Makes claims that are exaggerated and wrong. We aggressively fight fraud and scams because people on our platforms don't want this content, legitimate advertisers don't want it and we don't want it either." Meta also claims that it has reduced user reports of scams by 58% over the past 18 months, though this time frame doesn't cover the entirety of the 2024 period of $16 billion scam revenue asserted by the outlet.
In a rare bipartisan move, Hawley and Blumenthal have expressed skepticism of Meta's claims. "Even a short review of Meta's Ad Library at the time of this letter shows clearly identifiable advertisements for illicit gambling, payment scams, crypto scams, AI deepfake sex services, and fake offers of federal benefits." One example given included an ad claiming that President Donald Trump would be paying $1,000 to recipients of food assistance. As the two politicians point out, "While Meta has been earned about advertisement deepfakes impersonating politicians, it continues to run fraudulent clips. The beneficiaries of these scams are often cybercrime groups based in China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Philippines."
According to the Blumenthal-Hawley letter citing both Reuters and FTC estimates, the data would suggest that "Meta was responsible for more than $50 billion in consumer loss. Scams have been allowed to take over Facebook and Instagram as Meta has drastically cut its safety staff, including for FTC mandated reviews, even as it dumps unimaginable sums into its generative AI projects."
It's a strong, unified condemnation of Meta's lax moderation from Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal and Missouri Republican Josh Hawley, and it suggests Meta may soon have more problems than competing with OpenAI and Google. The original report, if proven accurate, is sure to teach Big Tech a lesson about chasing profits (which could be a bubble) over moderating its platforms.
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