FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 1, 2025

Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new Tech Transparency Project (TTP) report reveals that scammers who use deepfake videos of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and lawmakers like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders to promote fictitious government benefits are among the top political ad spenders on Meta platforms.

TTP identified 63 scam advertisers—often targeting seniors with false promises of Social Security or Medicare benefits—who have collectively run more than 150,000 political ads on Meta platforms, spending $49 million. Although Meta disabled some of these ads and accounts, it often did so after they spent substantial sums on advertising—in some cases over $1 million.

Read TTP’s Report.

“While Meta rakes in advertising profits, it’s letting deepfake scams target seniors and their bank accounts,” said Michelle Kuppersmith, the executive director of Campaign for Accountability, the nonprofit watchdog that runs TTP. “It’s clear that Meta’s enforcement efforts are not keeping pace as online fraud becomes more sophisticated.”

TTP’s investigation gives a window into Meta’s scam problem—specifically, scam ads that use political figures and political messaging to hawk fake government benefits and other schemes. These ads violate multiple layers of Meta policies, but Meta routinely allows them to run for days or weeks before taking any action.

This thriving scam ecosystem on Meta is contributing to a larger explosion of online fraud. The FBI says losses from internet scams and cybercrime increased 33% in 2024, and the Federal Trade Commission notes that government impersonation scams specifically have led to a “four-fold increase since 2020 in reports from older adults who say they lost $10,000 or more—sometimes their entire life savings” to scammers.

Ms. Kuppersmith continued, “Meta has struggled for years with scams on its platforms, and now AI tools have given scammers a way to create convincing deepfakes to better target vulnerable people. Until Meta improves enforcement of its own policies against deception and fraud, these scams will likely continue to grow in size and sophistication.”

Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.