Meta failed to protect social media users from scam ads, lawsuit alleges

A new lawsuit alleges that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, misled users about the company’s efforts to prevent scams on its platforms.

The Consumer Federation of America (CFA), a nonprofit advocacy group that filed the complaint in Washington, D.C., superior court, alleges Meta failed to block ads that could pose a risk to users while charging those advertisers more to display their content. 

“Meta has adopted policies and practices that it knows allow scam advertisements to proliferate on its platforms while simultaneously profiting off those ads at its users’ expense,” CFA states in the suit. 

The group also accused Meta of downplaying the scale of fraud on its apps, creating a “false impression of safety” for users.

“As Americans lose more and more money to online scams, Meta has consistently chosen to prioritize profit over the safety of their users,” Ben Winters, director of AI and data privacy at the CFA, said in a statement.

CFA alleges that Meta’s actions violate a Washington, D.C., consumer protection law. The group is seeking damages and to recover what it claims were illegal profits the tech giant earned from its ads. 

A Meta spokesperson said CFA’s allegations “misrepresent the reality of our work” and that the company aggressively combats scams on its platforms.

“Last year alone, we removed over 159 million scam ads, 92% of which we took down before anyone reported them, and took down 10.9 million accounts on Facebook and Instagram associated with criminal scam centers,” the spokesperson told CBS News in an email.

Meta also continues to invest in new technologies to combat securities investment and other scams, the company said.