Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, calculated that over $3 billion of its Chinese-funded ad revenue came from scams.
Around 19% of the money generated by advertising from Chinese companies was directly tied to illegal gambling, pornography, and other banned content, according to internal Meta documents reviewed by Reuters.
Though Meta apps are banned for public use in China, the government has allowed businesses to advertise to foreign consumers on the sites. Ads from China have grown to represent over a tenth of Meta’s revenue, around $18 billion.
Meta’s own reviews show that over a quarter of its scam-related ads originated from China, leading the company to create an anti-fraud team in 2024 after staffers pushed for “significant investment to reduce growing harm.”
The team reduced fraudulent ads by about 10% in the second half of that year, until they were “asked to pause” work “as a result of an Integrity Strategy pivot and follow-up from Zuck,” referring to Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.
Documents obtained by Reuters do not clarify the meaning or purpose of the “pivot,” though they do show that the team was fully disbanded soon after Zuckerberg weighed in, and that Meta lifted a freeze on giving access to new Chinese ad agencies.
As of mid-2025, Chinese-funded ad revenue is made up of about 16% of scams.
“Scams are spiking across the internet, driven by persistent criminals and sophisticated, organized crime syndicates constantly evolving their schemes to evade detection,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. “We are focused on rooting them out by using advanced technical measures and new tools, disrupting criminal scam networks, working with industry partners and law enforcement, and raising awareness on our platforms about scam activity. And when we determine that bad actors have violated our rules prohibiting fraud and scams, we take action.”
Internet crime-related financial losses increased over 30% in 2024, the FBI’s Annual Internet Crime Report showed, leading to over $16 billion in stolen funds.
