California county sues Meta over scam ads

Jeff Horwitz

Mon, May 11, 2026 astatine 10:10 AM CDT 2 min read

By Jeff Horwitz

May 11 (Reuters) - California's Santa Clara County has sued Meta Platforms, alleging it has profited from Facebook and Instagram ads promoting scams successful usurpation of California's mendacious advertizing and unfair concern ‌practices laws.

The suit – filed Monday successful Santa Clara County Superior Court connected behalf of each California residents – ‌accuses the societal media elephantine of tolerating fraudulent advertizing connected a planetary basis. The suit seeks restitution, civilian damages and an bid prohibiting ​Meta from engaging successful unfair concern practices.

Citing leaked interior documents archetypal reported by Reuters past year, the ailment alleges that the institution earned arsenic overmuch arsenic $7 cardinal successful yearly gross from alleged "high-risk" scam ads which amusement wide signs of being fraudulent.

Rather than undertaking a wide crackdown connected fraudulent advertisers, the region alleges, Meta mostly tolerated the misconduct and adjacent established “guardrails” to artifact ‌scam simplification efforts if they outgo the ⁠company excessively overmuch money.

Santa Clara further alleges that Meta materially contributed to an epidemic of fraud by allowing middlemen to merchantability accounts to spot ads that were protected against enforcement, ⁠and targeting scam ads astatine users who had clicked connected likewise bogus offerings successful the past. Citing Reuters’ testing, the region alleged Meta's generative artificial quality systems often assistance unethical marketers successful creating ads for scams.

“The standard of Meta’s misconduct has reached ​an ​extraordinary level, and it needs to stop,” County Counsel Tony LoPresti ​told Reuters. “As civilian prosecutors successful Silicon Valley, we ‌have a peculiar work to clasp tech companies accountable to the law.”

Meta did not instantly respond to a petition for comment. The institution has rejected claims that it deliberately accepts advertizing for scams to support its gross stream.

“We aggressively combat fraud and scams due to the fact that radical connected our platforms don’t privation this content, morganatic advertisers don’t privation it and we don’t privation it either,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters past year.

In Santa Clara’s complaint, the region seizes connected specified ‌reassurances arsenic a constituent of Meta’s alleged misconduct. By assuring users ​that anti-scam efforts are its apical precedence and that it rigorously ​reviews ads for violations of level policies, the region ​says, Meta deceived the nationalist and hid the grade to which bogus ads person boosted ‌its profits.

“On accusation and belief, Meta tin adjacent ​adjust the flood of scam ​ads it allows connected its platforms successful bid to creaseless its net oregon deed circumstantial gross targets,” Santa Clara’s filing states.