Reuters | Home to Silicon Valley, California’s Santa Clara County filed a lawsuit on May 11, 2026, against Meta Platforms on behalf of all California residents. The lawsuit alleges that Meta is in violation of state false advertising and unfair business practices laws by profiting from ads that promote scams on the Facebook and Instagram platforms.

Filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, the lawsuit accuses Meta of “tolerating fraudulent advertising on a global basis.” The suit seeks restitution, civil damages, and an order prohibiting Meta from engaging in unfair business practices.

“The scale of Meta’s misconduct has reached an extraordinary level, and it needs to stop.” — Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti‍ ‍

According to the article, “the complaint alleges that the company earned as much as $7 billion in annual revenue from so-called "high-risk" scam ads which show clear signs of being fraudulent.” The suit cites leaked internal documents reported by Reuters late last year.

In addition, not only did Meta tolerate the misconduct, but the suit alleges that Meta:

Blocked ‌scam-reduction efforts because reducing scam ads would affect revenue.
Allowed its generative AI systems to “often assist unethical marketers in creating ads for scams,” citing Reuters’ testing.
Allowed broker accounts to place ads that were protected against enforcement ⁠and targeted users who had previously clicked on similar fraudulent ads.
Deceived users by promoting that anti-scam efforts are a top priority and claiming that it “rigorously” reviews ads for policy violations.

Read the full article: California county sues Meta over scam ads

Read about the original Reuters articles here: