Facebook parent company Meta got hit with a lawsuit from Santa Clara County accusing the tech giant of “knowingly” and “actively” facilitating and profiting from billions of scam advertisements.
The county cited a 2025 Reuters investigation that found internal Meta documents detailing how the company earned $7 billion from showing Facebook and Instagram users fraudulent ads.
According to the lawsuit, more than 3.5 billion daily active users were exposed to over 15 billion scam ads a day, and the county alleged that “Meta was involved in one third of all successful Internet scams in the U.S.”
“This case is about accountability. It’s about ensuring that as behemoth tech companies open up new frontiers in our society, that they aren’t lawless frontiers,” Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti said during a press conference.
The complaint points to reports that Meta laid off entire anti-scam teams and rolled back scam-prevention efforts.
“We know that Meta loves to tout its fraud prevention efforts,” LoPresti said. “But the allegations in the complaint tell a very different story.”
LoPresti further alleged that the social media giant had no problem absorbing any penalties from promoting scams as the revenue far outweighed any fines.
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The company allowed fraudulent ads to be posted if advertisers paid a premium, he claimed. Meta’s algorithms then steered deceptive ads toward people most vulnerable to harm, such as users who previously clicked on scam ads, the suit said.
The legal action filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court is the first of its kind brought by a local prosecutor in the nation. It accused Meta’s practices of violating California’s business laws.
The company disputed the allegations in a statement following the lawsuit.
“We aggressively fight scams on and off our platforms because they’re not good for us or the people and businesses that rely on our services,” Meta said.
“We removed over 159 million scam ads last year alone, launched new tools to protect people, and partnered with law enforcement around the globe to disrupt these criminals. We will fight this lawsuit,” it added.
The company has been under fire legally in the past few years, particularly around children’s safety.
Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury found Google and Meta liable for fueling social media addiction.
