Rhode Island sued Meta over alleged tolerance for scam advertising on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The state seeks civil penalties, consumer restitution and an order requiring Meta to address scam ads.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha filed suit against Meta in state court, accusing the company of profiting from and participating in scam advertising while assuring users it was working to protect them. The lawsuit seeks civil penalties for alleged violations of state law, consumer restitution, disgorgement of gains and an order requiring Meta to address scam ads.
The suit alleges Meta's AI ad tools helped scammers create and optimize fraudulent marketing, and that the company sometimes charged suspected fraudulent advertisers extra rather than blocking them. It cites figures stating Meta displayed about 15 billion higher-risk scam ads each day and earned roughly 10% of its 2024 revenue from fraudulent e-commerce, dubious health products and other banned marketing.
Rhode Island alleged that scam ads often targeted older people and cited an investigation that identified nearly 94,000 scam ads on Meta platforms. The complaint also described ads for deepfake pornography and scams impersonating public figures and institutions; Meta has disputed prior reporting cited in the lawsuit and says it aggressively fights fraud and scams.
