Santa Clara County Sues Meta Over Alleged Scam Ads

Brandon Pho, reporting for San Jose Spotlight

The lawsuit filed Monday alleges that instead of cracking down on deceptive ads designed to trick users out of their money, Meta has hamstrung its own fraud prevention teams and helped fake companies bypass its filters to enable the tech powerhouse to enjoy an estimated $7 billion in ad revenue from the scams every year. [...]

The county lawsuit seeks attorney fees and a ruling barring Meta from further alleged violations of false advertising and unfair competition laws. Much of the lawsuit’s allegations stem from a 2025 Reuters investigation suggesting Meta was at one point involved in one-third of all successful Internet scams in the U.S.

The company has vowed to fight the lawsuit.

“This claim relies on Reuters reporting that distorts our motives and ignores the full range of actions we take to combat scams every day,” a spokesperson for the company told San José Spotlight. “We aggressively fight scams on and off our platforms because they’re not good for us or the people and businesses that rely on our services.”

Reuters’s Jeff Horwitz and Engen Tham were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting for their reporting on this story. As the adage goes, if the facts are on your side, pound the facts. If the law’s on your side, pound the law. If neither are on your side, pound the table.

★ Saturday, 16 May 2026