The complaint, filed on behalf of California residents, alleges Meta earns up to $7bn a year from \u201chigh-risk\u201d scam ads and tolerated the practice. The county wants restitution, civil damages, and an injunction.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Santa Clara County has sued Meta Platforms in California state court, alleging the company profits from scam advertising on Facebook<\/a> and Instagram in violation of California\u2019s false-advertising and unfair-business-practices laws.<\/span><\/p>\n The lawsuit, filed on Monday in Santa Clara County Superior Court on behalf of all California residents, alleges that Meta earns as much as $7bn in annual revenue from advertisements that bear clear signs of fraud. <\/span><\/p>\n The complaint says Meta \u201clargely tolerated\u201d the misconduct and established internal guardrails to block scam-reduction efforts that cost the company too much money.<\/span><\/p>\n TNW City Coworking space – Where your best work happ<\/a>ens<\/p>\n A workspace designed for growth, collaboration, and endless networking opportunities in the heart of tech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The county also alleges that Meta allowed middlemen to sell ad accounts that were protected against enforcement and that the company targeted scam ads at users who had clicked on similar fraudulent listings before.<\/span><\/p>\n The complaint draws on internal documents first reported by Reuters in November 2025, which indicated that Meta\u2019s own projections expected more than 10% of its 2024 annual revenue, roughly $16bn, to come from advertising scams and banned goods. <\/span><\/p>\n Earlier private litigation<\/span> from the Consumer Federation of America cited the same set of documents.<\/span><\/p>\n The lawsuit seeks restitution for affected California residents, civil damages and an order prohibiting Meta from continuing the alleged practices.<\/span><\/p>\n Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has previously said it removes scam content and has dedicated teams working to enforce its policies. <\/span><\/p>\n In April it filed its own lawsuits against advertisers involved in celebrity-impersonation scams.<\/span><\/p>\n Santa Clara County\u2019s complaint is the latest in a multi-front legal challenge over Meta\u2019s advertising platform. <\/span><\/p>\n A class-action filed in Washington, DC, by the Consumer Federation of America covers similar ground. Japanese regulators, the UK\u2019s Online Safety Act enforcement team and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have all opened parallel inquiries into scam-advertising practices across the company\u2019s platforms in the past twelve months.<\/span><\/p>\n The Santa Clara case is being handled by the county counsel\u2019s office, and a<\/span>\u00a0scheduling order is expected within thirty days.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
![](\"https:\/\/media.thenextweb.com\/2026\/04\/Meta.avif\")
<\/p>\n