Khaberni - Internal documents leaked by "Reuters" reveal that "Meta", the owner of Facebook and Instagram platforms, earns billions of dollars annually from widespread fraudulent advertising across its apps.
This revelation points to an ethical and financial dilemma facing the giant company.
According to the documents, "Meta" expects this type of advertising to contribute about 10% of its total revenue for 2024, which is equivalent to several billions of dollars.
Internal estimates indicate that platform users are exposed daily to nearly 15 billion fraudulent advertisements, ranging from bogus investment offers and "disguise" operations for counterfeit goods to financial phishing campaigns.
Additional fees on "the most fraudulent fraudsters"
What is most controversial in the leaks is that the company does not fully ban marketers suspected of being involved in fraud. Instead, it merely imposes additional fees on their advertisements, classifying them as "high risk".
"Meta" internally categorizes them in confidential reports under a dubious title, like "the most fraudulent fraudsters", without taking decisive actions to stop their activities.
So far, "Meta" has not issued any official comment on these leaks, but it is expected that its leadership will face increasing pressure from legislators in the United States and Europe, who are seeking to enact stricter legislation that forces platforms to take responsibility for the fraudulent content spread on them.
Strong financial results reflect growth
The revelation of these practices coincides with "Meta's" announcement on Wednesday, October 29, about strong financial results that exceeded expectations for the third quarter of the year. The company achieved record profits from advertisements, despite accumulated losses exceeding $70 billion in the "metaverse" project.
According to data collected by the company LSEG, earnings per share reached $7.25 (versus expectations of $6.69), and total revenues were $51.24 billion (higher than the expected $49.4 billion).
Advertisement revenue alone amounted to $50.08 billion, exceeding Wall Street's estimates ($48.5 billion).
This strong performance reflects a 26% annual growth in sales, the highest since early 2024, supported by an increase in the number of daily active users across Meta's apps, which reached 3.54 billion users, exceeding market expectations of 3.5 billion.
