Santa Clara County is suing Meta, Facebook's parent company, for allowing scammer ads to filter through the system and deceive users to the company's financial benefit (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File).
Santa Clara County leaders are suing Meta, alleging the company has engaged in a worldwide, systematic campaign to litter vulnerable Facebook and Instagram users’ feeds with billions of scam ads by fraudulent companies.
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.
“There can be no confusion about it — Meta is on the take,” County Counsel Tony LoPresti said at a Monday news conference announcing the lawsuit. “This case is about accountability — it’s about ensuring that as behemoth tech companies open up new frontiers in our society, they aren’t lawless frontiers. Meta has lied to its users and violated the law for years.”
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.
