TTP Report: Meta Hosts Sprawling Pro-Trump Scam Ad Network as Election Nears
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 31, 2024
Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a non-profit watchdog group that runs the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), published a report exposing an extensive network of Facebook pages pumping out scam ads for fake U.S. government benefits and dubious offers of “free” Trump 2024 merchandise. The ads have spent over $13.3 million on Meta platforms since August 2020, with some running as recently as this month. The findings show how Meta allows scammers to make heavy use of its advertising machinery—and profits handsomely from such activity.
CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “For a scam network to exist at this scale for this long, it’s a safe bet that the people behind it are making a good return on investment. Meta is also benefitting—to the tune of millions of dollars—at the expense of its users.”
TTP combined data and shared analyses of this scam ad network with ProPublica and Columbia University’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, which produced their own investigation. The ads use a variety of strategies to extract money from Meta users. Some promote fake U.S. stimulus payments or “health credits” and offer to help consumers sign up for them. Others urge users to take a poll to get a “free” Trump-themed flag or commemorative coin, provided they pay for shipping—a tactic that sparked consumer complaints about surprise recurring “membership” fees turning up on credit card bills.
Many of the pages in the network have been managed by users in foreign countries including Vietnam, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Several of the pages were hacked or stolen from public figures, including journalists and an actress-producer.
This is not the first time TTP has highlighted how unscrupulous actors take advantage of Meta’s lax moderation when it comes to advertising. Previous TTP reports documented how drug dealers and gun traffickers make frequent use of Meta advertising to sell their products in violation of the company’s policies.
Ms. Kuppersmith continued, “Meta doesn’t talk about how much money it makes from ads that explicitly violate its policies, but research like this provides a window into how big that number could be. At this point, it’s reasonable to ask: Is Meta’s lack of enforcement of its ad policies a feature rather than a bug?”
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.