The Australian banking industry has launched a scathing attack on Meta after revelations the tech giant earned a staggering $16 billion from scam advertisements last year, while knowingly exposing users to billions of fraudulent schemes daily.
Systemic Failure in Scam Detection
Internal company documents obtained by Reuters expose that for three consecutive years, Meta's systems failed to detect and block scam advertisements across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. This failure left billions of users vulnerable to fraudulent e-commerce schemes, illegal online casinos, investment scams and the sale of banned medical products.
The documents reveal Meta exposed users to approximately 15 billion scam advertisements every day, despite many displaying clear indicators of fraudulent activity. According to 2024 internal projections, the company expects to generate about 10% of its total annual revenue from running ads for scams and prohibited products.
Questionable Policies and Profit Motives
Meta's internal policies show the company only bans advertisers when its automated systems predict at least a 95% likelihood of fraud being committed. When the system is less certain about fraudulent activity, Meta imposes higher advertising rates as a penalty rather than removing the content entirely.
The company earns approximately $7 billion annually from this category of scam advertisements, according to one internal 2024 document. Compounding the problem, Meta's targeting system ensures that users who click on scam ads are shown even more similar fraudulent content, effectively trapping vulnerable individuals in cycles of deception.
An internal review conducted by Meta found it was significantly easier to advertise scams on their platforms compared to Google's advertising network.
Banking Industry Reaction and Demands
Australian Banking Association CEO Simon Birmingham told Daily Mail that Meta's practices were completely unacceptable. "The exposure of Meta as deliberately profiting from scam ads is akin to when the tobacco industry was exposed as having known but ignored the harms in its industry," Mr Birmingham stated.
He emphasised the severity of the situation: "These are unacceptable acts of deliberate profiting from human suffering. Meta's behaviour doesn't pass muster at any level."
Mr Birmingham highlighted the broader impact: "As people lose billions to scams, and while governments and banks spend billions trying to reduce scams, Meta is knowingly joining scammers to rake in billions of illegitimate profits."
The banking executive called for fundamental changes: "Meta needs to focus its efforts on preventing scam ads in the first place and, for those that still get through, taking ads down as soon as the risk is identified. If people don't see scam ads on their social feeds, then they can't get scammed in the first place."
Meta's Response and Future Plans
Meta spokesman Andy Stone told Reuters that their internal documents distorted the company's anti-fraud tactics and insisted Meta "aggressively" addresses scams and fraud across its applications.
Mr Stone claimed Meta had reduced user reports of scam ads globally by 58% over the past 18 months and had removed more than 134 million pieces of scam ad content.
Despite these claims, internal documents show Meta plans to gradually reduce the share of revenue from scams, illegal gambling and prohibited goods from an estimated 10% in 2024 to 7.3% by the end of 2025, indicating the company expects to continue profiting from such content for the foreseeable future.
The scale of the problem is reflected in Australian scam statistics, with citizens losing $2.03 billion to scams in 2024 according to the National Anti-Scam Centre. Investment scammers alone have taken more than $128 million from Australians in 2025, with over half originating from online contact.
