Overview
- The county, which filed the case Monday in Santa Clara County Superior Court on behalf of all Californians, seeks restitution, civil penalties, and a court order forcing changes to Meta’s advertising practices.
- Prosecutors cite leaked internal records to allege Meta earned up to $7 billion a year from high‑risk scam ads, set internal guardrails that curbed anti‑fraud efforts, charged flagged advertisers higher prices, and let brokers sell protected ad accounts.
- The complaint says Meta’s tools steered scam ads to people who had clicked similar pitches, that its generative AI helped build deceptive creatives, and that seniors were hit hard by schemes from fake investments to bogus medical cures.
- The filing describes scale that includes roughly 15 billion scam ad impressions a day and claims Meta’s platforms accounted for about one‑third of U.S. internet scams, with Californians losing more than $2.5 billion in 2024.
- Meta rejects the allegations, saying it removed more than 159 million scam ads last year, rolled out new safety tools, and partnered with law enforcement, as related lawsuits and NGO reports build pressure over how platforms police paid ads.