Reuters: Meta Made Billions of Dollars From Illegal Gambling Ads and Scams
Posted on: December 16, 2025, 09:00h.
Last updated on: December 16, 2025, 09:17h.
- China is responsible for the bulk of scam ads on Meta platforms, the company says
- Despite a crackdown on scams, Meta still receives billions of dollars related to fraudulent businesses
- The illegal ads include promotions for rogue online casino gambling
An investigation by Reuters concludes that Facebook parent Meta has made billions of dollars from businesses, mostly in China, seeking to defraud consumers around the world.
The London-based international news agency says that Meta’s advertising revenue from Chinese companies exceeded $18 billion in 2024, accounting for more than 10% of the Facebook group’s global income.
Meta’s own calculation concluded that about 19% of that money, or more than $3 billion, was related to ads for scams, illegal gambling, pornography, and other banned content.
Reuters reported on the revenue after obtaining internal documents from Meta.
Chinese people are prohibited from accessing Meta’s social media, which, along with Facebook, includes Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Threads, and Workplace.
Consumers Harmed
The Meta documents, Reuters reported, led to consumers being financially harmed by purchasing bogus health supplements, investing in fraudulent businesses, and gambling on unregulated websites where the odds were heavily stacked against the player.
We need to make significant investments to reduce growing harm,” Meta staffers warned in April 2024.
Meta responded by forming an anti-fraud team to monitor advertisements coming from China. It led to Meta’s ad revenue from the world’s second most populated country dropping from 19% to 9%.
Still, Meta reported last month that it generates about $7 billion a year from advertisements it considers “high risk.” The group includes ads for scams, illegal gambling, and other banned products. Meta labels the People’s Republic as its top “Scam Exporting Nation” and the single largest source of ad fraud.
China’s impact on scam ads is so prevalent that Meta says it sees a noticeable drop off in fraudulent marketing during national holidays like the October Golden Week, where most workers are afforded a week of paid time off.
The Chinese government does not interfere when violations target overseas audiences,” a London consultancy called Propellerfish reported in a Meta-commissioned study about scam ads.
The review concluded that so-called “ad optimization specialists” have been able to exploit weaknesses in Meta’s protection system to ban scams and fraudulent ads.
Chinese Gambling
Casino gambling and online gambling are banned in China, with the exception being Macau, a Special Administrative Region that is the world’s richest casino market.
Illegal online casinos operating offshore have long targeted consumers in China, with hotbeds for such operations including the Philippines, Malta, Curacao, the Isle of Man, Anjouan, Gibraltar, and Ukraine.
The Philippines, however, recently wound down its online gaming industry. At Beijing’s request, Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. told the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to cancel all Philippines Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) licenses.
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