RATHER THAN FULLY CRACKING DOWN ON SCAM ADS, META WORKED TO MAKE THEM HARDER TO FIND

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

Meta took steps to make scam ads less discoverable to regulators, investigators, and journalists due to fears that Japanese regulators would require advertiser verification, a measure the company estimated would cost roughly $2 billion to implement and potentially reduce revenue by nearly 5%. The campaign was so successful that Meta added the tactic to a 'general global playbook' that has since been deployed against regulatory scrutiny in other markets. Meta had previously estimated that 10% of its 2024 revenue was from ads tied to scams and banned goods.