Meta sued in class action over scam ads, internal docs cited

A class-action lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. this week alleges that Meta deceived Facebook users about scam advertisements and profited from them. Tycko and Zavareei LLP and Tech Justice Law filed the complaint on April 21 under the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act on behalf of the Consumer Federation of America and Washington, D.C. Facebook users. The complaint cites internal documents published by Reuters in December 2025 showing Meta projected that around 10 percent of its revenue, approximately $16 billion, would come from advertising scam and banned products in 2024. Users are exposed to 15 billion high-risk scam ads each day, according to the documents. Sarah Kay Wiley, attorney and managing director at Tech Justice Law, said in a press release that Meta deliberately profited from harm to users and built a business model on predatory deception. A Meta spokesperson told Mashable the allegations misrepresent the company's work and that Meta will fight them. The spokesperson added that Meta removed over 159 million scam ads last year, 92 percent before anyone reported them, and took down 10.9 million accounts associated with criminal scam centers. The complaint comes weeks after Meta announced new tools to fight scams on Facebook and Instagram, including working with law enforcement.