The nonprofit Consumer Federation of America filed a lawsuit against Meta in April 2026, alleging that the company allowed fraudulent advertisements to spread across Facebook and Instagram in violation of Washington, DC’s consumer protection laws.
The CFA’s complaint targets scam ads found directly in Meta’s own ads library, including promotions that appear to target users by birth year and advertise $1,400 checks, as well as ads for free government iPhones. Ben Winters, CFA’s director of AI and data privacy, told WIRED that additional suspicious ads — including promotions for “free phones” and “stimulus checks” — can be found by searching Meta’s ad library with basic keywords. A WIRED review of the library found live ads for “secret tax checks” linking to a website promoting an investing strategy. Meta did not respond to questions about whether those ads comply with its policies.
Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro disputed the claims, stating, “These allegations misrepresent the reality of our work and we will fight them.” Sgro added that Meta removed over 159 million scam ads last year, took down 10.9 million accounts linked to criminal scam centers, and proactively removed 92 percent of those ads before any user reported them.
The lawsuit draws on a broader pattern of scrutiny facing the company. In late 2025, Reuters reported on internal Meta documents showing that a May 2025 internal presentation estimated Meta’s platforms were involved in a third of all successful scams in the US, and that an internal review found it “is easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google.” A separate 2024 internal document estimated that approximately 10.1 percent of Meta’s revenue that year — around $16 billion — came from ads that were scams or other prohibited content. For context, the FBI estimated Americans lost $16 billion from all internet crimes in 2024. At the time, a Meta spokesperson called that internal estimate “rough and overly inclusive” but declined to provide a more precise figure.
The CFA is seeking damages, recovery of what it characterizes as illegal profits, and business reforms from Meta. Winters said more needs to be done to remove repeat violators and to screen ads promising nonexistent government programs before they reach consumers.
The case adds to existing pressure on Meta from government officials. In June 2025, a bipartisan group of state attorneys general — including New York AG Letitia James — urged Meta to address Facebook ads directing users to WhatsApp groups used for investment scams, stating that Meta’s existing measures were not working and that scam ads continued to appear months after being reported. Meta’s platforms are among the most widely used in the US, according to a recent Pew Research Center report, giving the outcome of this lawsuit potential implications for a large share of American internet users.
Source: Business Latest