Dutch watchdog accuses Meta of turning a blind eye as scam ads keep circulating
According to the Consumentenbond, the consumer interest group in the Netherlands, Meta barely monitors advertisers and takes no action against unreliable online stores.
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According to the Consumentenbond, the consumer interest group in the Netherlands, Meta barely monitors advertisers and takes no action against unreliable online stores.
In December 2025, the consumer advocacy group conducted a random check of 30 known fraudulent web shops and compared the results with a similar investigation conducted in 2024.
The test showed that 16 of the 30 deceptive web shops were advertising on Facebook and Instagram in 2025, the same number as the year before.
According to the interest group, Meta hardly monitors for the exploitation of well-known brands or celebrities in advertisements. At the same time, scammers are keen to use familiar brand names and the names of famous people to appear trustworthy.
If Meta notices that an advertiser is violating the company’s advertising policy, it only removes a small portion of the fake ads. The Consumentenbond reported 27 fraudulent ads to Meta, but only 4 of them were removed. For the remainder, the interest group received a response that the ads were “no longer active.”
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“Meta shows no improvement whatsoever, which is worrisome. If the tech giant had taken responsibility, it could have prevented a lot of fraud,” Sandra Molenaar, Director of the Consumentenbond, said in a statement.
Meta is well aware of the fraudulent ads on its platforms.
According to internal documents, fraudulent and misleading ads generate approximately $16 billion, which accounts for about 10% of Meta’s overall annual revenue. In addition, users are shown roughly 15 billion so-called “higher risk” scam advertisements per day.
According to a Meta spokesperson, these numbers represent “a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams.”
“The assessment was done to validate our planned integrity investments, including in combating fraud and scams, which we did. We aggressively fight fraud and scams because people on our platforms don’t want this content, legitimate advertisers don’t want it, and we don’t want it either,” the spokesperson said.
He continued by saying that Meta removed more than 134 million misleading ads in 2025.
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