Santa Clara County sued Meta Platforms in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Monday, accusing the social media company of profiting from fraudulent ads on Facebook and Instagram and of helping enable the scams with its own systems and policies. [1, 2]
The complaint says Meta tolerated scam advertising and earned as much as $7 billion a year from so-called high-risk scam ads. It also alleges the company targeted scam ads at users who had already clicked on similar bogus offers. [1, 2]
County counsel Tony LoPresti said, “The scale of Meta’s misconduct has reached an extraordinary level, and it needs to stop.” He also said the county could not “sit idly by” while what he called a tech giant swindled the public to hit a revenue target. [1, 2]
Meta said it will defend itself. Spokesperson Andy Stone said, “This claim relies on Reuters reporting that distorts our motives and ignores the full range of actions we take to combat scams every day.” Meta also said, “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.” [1]
The county said the case is the first such lawsuit brought by a local civil prosecutor. The complaint also cites leaked internal documents and Reuters reporting as support for its claims. [1, 2]
Meta said it removed over 159 million scam ads last year alone, launched new tools to protect users and worked with law enforcement worldwide to disrupt criminals. A separate 36Kr summary said Meta removed 159 million fake ads last year. [3, 2]
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of California residents, and the county’s court case is now before Santa Clara County Superior Court. [1]
