Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Turned Blind-Eye To China-Based Scam Ads To Fuel Billions In Revenue: Report

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) was aware of fraudulent practices by its Chinese advertisers but failed to take meaningful action, allowing the company to continue generating billions of dollars in ad revenue, according to a report.

Zuckerberg’s Role In Chinese Scam-Ads Prevention

Meta’s Chinese advertisers were found to be defrauding users of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp globally, and despite being aware of this, the company did not take substantial steps to address the issue, a Reuters special report detailed on Monday.

According to the publication, internal Meta documents from the past four years show the company was aware of widespread abuse on its platforms, especially originating from China. In 2024, about 19% of its $18 billion in annual revenue from China came from ads linked to scams, illegal gambling, and pornography.

Instead, Meta attempted to address the issue by creating an anti-fraud team, which managed to reduce problematic ads by half in the latter half of 2024, according to the report. However, after CEO Mark Zuckerberg intervened, the company reportedly disbanded the team, lifted a freeze on new Chinese ad agencies, and shelved other anti-scam measures, and as a result, banned ads from China surged back to around 16% of Meta’s China revenue by mid-2025.

Meta did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment.

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Meta Faces Heat Over Scam Ad Profits

This report comes after Meta’s internal documents were leaked, revealing that the company projected a revenue of approximately $16 billion from scam advertisements and banned goods in 2024, accounting for nearly 10% of its total revenue.

Following this, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Josh Hawley  (R-Mo.) called for an investigation and regulatory action against Meta over its alleged profiting from fraudulent advertisements on its platforms.

Earlier in September, Singapore had ordered Meta to roll out stricter anti-scam measures on Facebook or risk a fine of up to S$1 million ($775,698), escalating regulatory pressure on the tech giant over its handling of online fraud. Earlier this month, Australia's Westpac Banking Corp‘s CEO, Anthony Miller, urged social media companies like Meta to play a more active role in prohibiting online scams, amid increasing threats to consumers.

According to Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings, Meta has a growth score of 78.31% and a momentum rating of 32.05%. Click here to see how it compares to other leading tech companies.

Price Action: On a year-to-date basis, Meta stock climbed 8.06% as per data from Benzinga Pro. On Monday, it rose 0.59% to close at $647.51.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.