Santa Clara County sues Meta for actively scamming Californians | Latest Tech News
Facebook mum or dad company Meta acquired hit with a lawsuit from Santa Clara County accusing the tech giant of “knowingly” and “actively” facilitating and profiting from billions of rip-off ads.
The county cited a 2025 GWN investigation that discovered inner Meta paperwork detailing how the company earned $7 billion from displaying Facebook and Instagram customers fraudulent adverts.
The lawsuit accuses Facebook mum or dad company Meta of violating California’s business legal guidelines. Dominic Lipinski/PA Images/Alamy Images/Sipa USA
According to the lawsuit, more than 3.5 billion daily energetic customers had been uncovered to over 15 billion rip-off adverts a day, and the county alleged that “Meta was involved in one third of all successful Internet scams in the U.S.”
“This case is about accountability. It’s about ensuring that as behemoth tech companies open up new frontiers in our society, that they aren’t lawless frontiers,” Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti said during a press convention.
The grievance factors to studies that Meta laid off whole anti-scam groups and rolled back scam-prevention efforts.
Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti.
“We know that Meta loves to tout its fraud prevention efforts,” LoPresti said. “But the allegations in the complaint tell a very different story.”
LoPresti additional alleged that the social media giant had no drawback absorbing any penalties from selling scams as the income far outweighed any fines.
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The company allowed fraudulent adverts to be posted if advertisers paid a premium, he claimed. Meta’s algorithms then steered misleading adverts toward people most susceptible to hurt, such as customers who beforehand clicked on rip-off adverts, the swimsuit said.
The legal motion filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court is the first of its sort introduced by a local prosecutor in the nation. It accused Meta’s practices of violating California’s business legal guidelines.
The legal motion filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court is the first of its sort introduced by a local prosecutor in the nation. Getty Images
The company disputed the allegations in a assertion following the lawsuit.
“We aggressively fight scams on and off our platforms because they’re not good for us or the people and businesses that rely on our services,” Meta said.
“We removed over 159 million scam ads last year alone, launched new tools to protect people, and partnered with law enforcement around the globe to disrupt these criminals. We will fight this lawsuit,” it added.
The lawsuit alleges Meta had no drawback absorbing any penalties from selling scams as the income far outweighed any fines. REUTERS
The company has been under fire legally in the past few years, notably around youngsters’s security.
Earlier this 12 months, a Los Angeles jury discovered Google and Meta liable for fueling social media habit.
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