Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to regulators on Saturday, requesting an investigation into Meta for allegedly profiting from fraudulent advertisements.
The letter, sent to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Andrew Ferguson and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins, calls on their agencies to “investigate and, if appropriate, bring enforcement actions against Meta for its facilitation of and profiting from criminal investment scams, fake government benefits schemes, deepfake pornography, and other fraudulent activities.”
Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Meta internally projected last year that it would earn $16 billion from advertising scams and banned goods on its platforms, accounting for roughly 10 percent of its annual revenue.
An internal document from 2024 shows that the company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, exposes users to roughly 15 billion clearly fraudulent advertisements daily. Another document from last year showed it earns roughly $7 billion annually from such scam ads.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5620661-meta-senators-request-fraud-probe/