US senators name for probe of rip-off adverts on Fb and Instagram – One America Information Community

[ad_1] By Jeff HorwitzNovember 24, 2025 – 3:44 AM PST

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(Reuters) – U.S. senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal have requested the heads of the Federal Commerce Fee and the Securities and Change Fee to probe Meta Platforms, following a Reuters report in regards to the social media large’s income from adverts on Fb and Instagram that promote scams and banned items.

“The FTC and SEC ought to instantly open investigations and, if the reporting is correct, pursue vigorous enforcement motion the place acceptable” to pressure Meta to disgorge income, pay penalties and conform to stop operating such commercials, Hawley and Blumenthal wrote in a letter to the federal businesses.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that inner paperwork from late 2024 said that Meta anticipated to earn about 10% of its income that yr – about $16 billion – from illicit promoting. One doc famous Meta earns $3.5 billion in income from “greater danger” rip-off adverts each six months. Different paperwork said that Meta’s anti-fraud guidelines didn’t seem to use to many adverts that regulators and the corporate’s personal employees believed “violated the spirit” of its guidelines in opposition to rip-off promoting.

In response to the Reuters report, Meta stated it had lowered person stories of scams by 58% during the last eighteen months.

The Hawley-Blumenthal letter “makes claims which are exaggerated and improper,” Meta spokesman Andy Stone stated. “We aggressively combat fraud and scams as a result of individuals on our platforms don’t need this content material, professional advertisers don’t need it and we don’t need it both.”

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Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, and Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, expressed skepticism about Meta’s efforts to fight illicit promoting. They pointed to the corporate’s “advert library,” a publicly accessible database of promoting that seems on Meta’s social-media platforms.

“Even a brief assessment of Meta’s Advert Library on the time of this letter exhibits clearly identifiable commercials for illicit playing, cost scams, crypto scams, AI deepfake intercourse companies, and faux presents of federal advantages,” they wrote.

The senators cited Reuters reporting that Meta itself estimated its platforms had been concerned in a 3rd of all scams within the U.S., and went on to notice that the FTC estimates People misplaced $158.3 billion to scams final yr.

“This might recommend Meta was accountable for greater than $50 billion in shopper loss,” they wrote. Their letter alleges that Meta has consciously chosen to just accept adverts that promote fraudulent actions. “Scams have been allowed to take over Fb and Instagram as Meta has drastically minimize its security employees, together with for FTC mandated opinions, even because it dumps unimaginable sums into its generative AI initiatives.”

Blumenthal and Hawley expressed explicit concern about faux adverts purporting to symbolize the U.S. authorities or political figures. They cited an instance of a bogus advert that claimed President Donald Trump was providing $1,000 to recipients of meals help.

“Whereas Meta has been warned about commercial deepfakes impersonating politicians, it nonetheless continues to run fraudulent clips,” their letter states. “The beneficiaries of those scams are sometimes cybercrime teams based mostly in China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and the Philippines.”