Meta's Forecast: The Impact of Fraudulent Advertising on Revenue
According to internal documents from Meta, it is projected that around 10% of their total revenue in 2024, approximately $16 billion, will come from the placement of advertisements related to fraudulent schemes and prohibited products. This information was reported by Reuters.
These advertisements include materials promoting counterfeit investment and trading projects, illegal online casinos, and the sale of banned medical products. The documents reviewed by Reuters reflect Meta's efforts to assess the scale of fraudulent advertising on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.
Meta's total sales for 2024 are expected to exceed $164.5 billion. Last week, the company announced that its revenue for the third quarter increased by 26% year-over-year, reaching $51.24 billion. Additionally, Meta raised its lower forecast for expenses by $2 billion due to substantial investments in artificial intelligence.
Reuters also cited data from a December 2024 document indicating annual revenues of $7 billion from so-called "high-risk" fraudulent ads that are clearly misleading. Estimates suggest that users are shown around 15 billion of such ads daily.
While some documents indicated Meta's intention to reduce the number of fraudulent ads, others expressed the company's concerns about the potential negative impact of a sudden removal of these ads on financial performance.
A Meta representative stated that the company is "aggressively" combating fraudulent advertising. He mentioned that the 10% revenue estimate was "approximate and overly broad," and further analysis revealed that a significant portion of ads did not violate policies. He also emphasized that the leak of documents only shows part of the company's work in assessing the issue, not all measures taken to address it.
