Meta Makes Billions From Ad Scams, Illegal Gambling & Banned Products

Meta has been accused of making billions of dollars through advertising a range of scams, illegal gambling platforms, and banned products.

A Reuters report noted that the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram generated 10% of its total revenue—around $16 billion—from advertising illegal enterprises last year.

Meta’s internal documents revealed that users on its platforms see around 15 billion scam ads per day, and that the company generated $7 billion from these promotions.

Rather than banning companies that raise suspicion, Meta instead raises the advertising costs, thus further maximizing its profit from pushing illegal businesses. It claims this is to dissuade suspect advertisers from placing ads, but in reality, it means scam sites are able to continue duping unsuspecting users.

Meta’s internal documents show that the company only bans advertisers if its automated systems predict that the marketers are at least 95% certain to be committing fraud. Furthermore, due to Meta’s algorithms, anyone who clicks on a scam or an unlicensed online casino promotion will see more adverts for illegal businesses.

In an email to CasinoBeats, a Meta spokesperson challenged the allegations, stating, “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.

“Scammers are persistent criminals whose efforts, often driven by ruthless cross-border criminal networks that operate on a global scale, continue to grow in sophistication and complexity.”

Meta Responsible For a Third of US Scams

A May 2025 presentation by Meta’s safety staff estimated that the company’s platforms were involved in a third of all successful scams in the U.S. 

Sandeep Abraham, a fraud examiner and former Meta safety investigator, says the company must do more to tackle the promotion of scams, illegal gambling, and banned products. He stated, “If regulators wouldn’t tolerate banks profiting from fraud, they shouldn’t tolerate it in tech.” 

Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the accusations “present a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams.” 

He added, “Over the past 18 months, we have reduced user reports of scam ads globally by 58 percent and, so far in 2025, we’ve removed more than 134 million pieces of scam ad content.”

Meta Limits Any Action to Reduce Revenue 

Action on reducing revenue generated is often limited, however. Earlier this year, a report highlighted that executives at gaming company Evolution were knowingly selling products to black markets. It later emerged that the report had been financed by Evolution’s rival gaming company, Playtech.

In the case of Meta, internal documents similarly reveal that the company is aware of its advertising scams but is unwilling to take action.

“It is easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google,” concluded an internal Meta review in April 2025 of online communities where fraudsters discuss their trade. 

Another internal document revealed that any action tackling the promotion of scams, illegal gambling, and other banned products should not cost Meta more than 0.15% of total revenue. That works out to about $135 million out of the $90 billion Meta generated in the first half of 2025.

“Let’s be cautious,” wrote a manager overseeing the effort, “We have specific revenue guardrails.”

The company has vowed to reduce the revenue generated from the illegal promotions from the current 10% to 7.3% by the end of 2025. By the end of 2026, Meta aims to further reduce that figure to 6%, and then to 5.8% in 2027, according to other documents.

A spokesperson added, “In addition to removing scam content outright, we also incorporate people’s feedback to better understand their experiences and identify situations in which it may not be immediately obvious that something is a scam. We use that feedback to train our systems to proactively detect similar scam content.”

Scammiest Scammers Allowed to Continue Scamming

However, action remains slow. To draw attention to the company’s perceived failures, an employee began issuing reports earlier this year, highlighting that week’s “Scammiest Scammer.” The report profiled the advertiser that had earned the most user complaints about scams in the past week.

Colleagues praised the initiative. But being name-checked in the report wasn’t always enough for such accounts to get shut down. A Reuters check of five accounts cited in one Scammiest Scammer report found that two were still active more than six months later, including one that was running ads for unlicensed online casinos. After Reuters flagged those two accounts to Meta, they were taken down.

The report highlights the challenges regulators face in tackling unregulated gambling sites. State regulators have been clamping down on sweepstakes casinos and prediction markets this year, issuing cease-and-desist letters to countless operators. Michigan is one of the most active states, sending out more than 700 letters since 2022.

However, efforts are often in vain, particularly when companies can so easily advertise across the internet and on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. The Reuters report highlights that while Meta may claim it is working on the issue, in reality, it is reluctant to implement strict rules that could negatively impact its bottom line.