Reuters | Meta — the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — decided to accept high levels of fraudulent advertisements from China. Internal company documents show Meta wanted to minimize the “revenue impact” of preventing scam ads.

The Chinese government bans its citizens from using Meta’s social media platforms. But it doesn’t prevent Chinese companies from advertising on Meta platforms to reach foreign consumers worldwide.

The information comes from over four years of documents from Meta’s finance, lobbying, engineering, and safety teams. The content reveals how Meta worked to understand the abuse — and how its revenue priorities overruled fraud-prevention efforts.

The full article, “Reuters Special Report: Meta tolerates rampant ad fraud from China to safeguard billions in revenue,” provides significant detail about the investigation and specific companies involved. Some abridged highlights here below:

Why the Focus on China?

Meta’s advertising business in China exceeded $18 billion in annual sales in 2024, accounting for more than 10% of the company’s global revenue. And nearly 20% of that — $3+ billion — came from advertising for scams, illegal gambling, pornography, and other banned content, according to internal Meta documents reviewed by Reuters.

Meta believes that national holidays in China affect fraud activity. During the “Golden Week” in October, when hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens travel, scam rates on Meta platforms decline.

In March 2025, the U.S. FBI reportedly seized $214 million in proceeds from ads that lured victims into a Chinese stock scam.
In China, Meta sells most of its ads through 11 major Chinese ad agency partners that sell ads and recruit smaller agencies.

Meta’s Brief Focus on Anti-Fraud Efforts

Meta believed that about a quarter of ads for scams and banned products on its platforms worldwide originated in China. Victims ranged from buyers of bogus health products to U.S. and Canadian investors who lost their life savings.

2022 – 2024: Meta’s Chinese ad revenue grew from $7.4 billion to $18.4 billion. It became increasingly apparent that fraudulent practices were widespread in China, according to the internal documents.

2024: Meta created an anti-fraud team to respond.
Mid-2024: Meta implemented stronger enforcement tools, reducing scam ads from 19% of total ad revenue from China to 9%.
Late 2024: The ad-enforcement team was told to “pause” after “follow-up from Zuck,” referring to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Meta then disbanded the China-focused anti-scam team and lifted a freeze on granting platform access to new Chinese ad agencies.
Mid-2025: Banned ads rebounded to about 16% of Meta’s China revenue.

A consultancy hired by Meta reported that some of Meta’s enforcement practices enable, and inadvertently encourage, fraud advertising. Setting up an account to buy ads is simple with fake or stolen accounts. Chinese companies sell software that masks advertiser identities, disguises fraudulent ads as legitimate, and falsifies documents if Meta tries to verify the advertiser.

Other social media platforms sell ads in China using similar networks. But the consultants reported that Meta has been more tolerant of illicit practices than its competitors: TikTok was “stricter” and Google required thorough identity checks.

In a February 2025 document, “Meta managers said the company would tolerate elevated levels of misconduct by Chinese advertisers on a permanent basis,” according to the Reuters article.

Legitimate Business from China

China now represents 11% of Meta’s overall revenue. Shein and Temu, were Meta’s largest advertisers in 2024, spending a combined daily average of $17 million on Facebook and Instagram. By comparison, Amazon spent $4.8 million daily as Meta’s third-largest advertiser.

How the Ad Agencies Do It

Most advertisers buy ads through their own business profiles on Meta. Because businesses can’t directly access Meta in China, Meta pays the 11 large Chinese ad agencies to enlist advertisers and run the ads.

Meta pays the agencies about 10% commission for ads purchased through their accounts. They also receive special protections. For example, Meta doesn’t remove the agencies’ ads when its automated systems flag them for violations. The ads remain active while flagged for human review, which might take days, or never happen.

Some agencies openly advertise their ability to shield clients from Meta's enforcement. The fraud typically comes from small and mid-sized Chinese businesses recruited by the ad agency partners.

Full article: Reuters Special Report: Meta tolerates rampant ad fraud from China to safeguard billions in revenue