The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) has filed a class-action lawsuit against Meta Platforms, accusing the social media giant of failing to protect users from scam advertisements.
The CFA, an association of non-profit consumer organizations, is seeking to recover damages and illegal profits after filing the Superior Court lawsuit in Washington, D.C.
Says the complaint,
“Meta claims it is doing all it can to crack down on scam advertising on its platforms. But in reality, Meta has knowingly taken steps and adopted policies that pad its bottom line at the expense of its users’ safety and well-being. In fact, rather than prohibiting advertisers who the company itself has determined pose a higher risk to its users (as other tech companies like Google have), Meta just charges these advertisers more.”
The lawsuit claims Meta is raking in billions of dollars annually through scam ads.
“Meta earns roughly $7 billion in annualized revenue from this ‘high risk’ category of advertisements alone. In 2024, internal documents at Meta projected that it would earn about 10% of its overall annual revenue, approximately $16 billion, from allowing advertising for scams and banned goods to run on their platforms, including Facebook.”
In a statement to media outlets, a Meta spokesperson denies the claims.
“These allegations misrepresent the reality of our work and we will fight them.”
The lawsuit contends that Meta is violating the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA), a law that makes it illegal to “engage in an unfair or deceptive trade practice” and prohibits unlawful trade practices in connection to advertisements of consumer goods and services.
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