Many people don’t see personalized advertising as a threat. Sure, maybe they’re a little creepy, but it’s just advertising — you’re either interested or you ignore it.

But targeting advertising has lately taken a dangerous turn, and the public has been largely unaware. Leaked documents from Meta obtained by Reuters(nuova finestra) revealed that Facebook is systematically publishing ads for scams and banned or illegal products. It’s not just a few of them, either. Meta estimates its social media sites are showing users 15 billion scam ads every day.

The company is doing little to stop them. On the contrary, Meta is raking in billions by running them. Scam ads account for about 10% of its overall annual revenue, as much as $16 billion.

What we know about scams on Meta

Meta builds a detailed profile of its users to target them with personalized ads. Then it uses automated systems to help advertisers find the right audience on its platforms. But it appears the company isn’t doing enough to vet the advertisers to protect people against fraud. These include ads for fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, shady crypto investments, illegal online casinos, and banned medical products.

A tranche of documents containing internal presentations, reports, reviews, and memos reviewed by Reuters reveals that Meta is profiting from scam ads. The investigation found that:

  • Meta estimates that 15 billion “higher risk” scam ads, flagged as potentially fraudulent, are shown to users every day. The ad reporting system does not filter out these ads. Instead it tries to discourage them by charging more, resulting in outsize revenue from bad actors.
  • Meta targets people who’ve previously clicked on scam ads with more scam ads. That’s one of the vicious cycles of an ad system based on people’s “interests”.
  • Meta earns about $7 billion in annualized revenue from this category of scam ads each year.
  • Meta employees internally acknowledged they’re probably going to be fined for running scam ads, and they anticipate penalties of up to $1 billion. But that’s significantly less than they’re earning from the scams.

The picture painted by Reuters clearly shows an organization committed to profiting at all costs, including people’s safety. The dominant narrative that emerges from these documents is that Meta failed to invest in automatic scam detection, ignored user reports of scams, and allowed large “scammy” advertisers to accrue more than 500 strikes against them before they were banned.

Thankfully, you can turn off personalized ads on Meta, and we recommend you do so.

Targeted advertising degrades online privacy

Meta isn’t the only unscrupulous advertising platform. Criminals use phishing ads on Google(nuova finestra) to steal the credentials of individuals and businesses that advertise via Google Ads itself. Ads for counterfeit money, cloned bank cards, and fake AirPods have been found on TikTok(nuova finestra).

For Big Tech, the incentive to profit off scams is greater than the risks of doing so. Regulatory fines against Big Tech represent a vanishingly small percentage of their annual turnover.

But the problem isn’t just scam ads. Even personalized ads for legitimate goods and services are a threat to consumers. Targeted ads use cookies to track everything you do on the internet. Cookies can collect your name, your address, your location, the device you’re browsing from, your browsing history, and more. Even if you block cookies on your browser, Google and Meta can still track you. They invade your privacy for the benefit of advertisers and data brokers, creating a profile of you that’s turned back on you for the purpose of manipulation and profit.

To turn the tide, alternative and ethically built tools like those made by Proton are essential. The future we all want is one where we can trust each other and use the internet safely, without the threat of corporate surveillance and hackers looming over us. Taking back control of your personal data will prevent scammy ads for you in the short term, but it also makes a genuine difference in the world. Without your data, you remove Big Tech’s incentive to spy on you because they can’t make money from you.

How to protect yourself from targeted ads

Targeted ads aren’t inevitable. There are actions you can take to protect yourself and limit what marketers and businesses can find out about you:

  • Opt out of targeted ads on every platform you use. You can switch off targeted ads on social media platforms, as well as news sites, search engines, and online shopping platforms, so make sure to familiarize yourself with the privacy settings on apps and sites you visit regularly and find out more about how they work.
  • Opt out of targeted ads on your device. Windows, iOS, and Android devices all have privacy settings that you can configure to limit ad tracking.
  • Use a secure VPN(nuova finestra) to hide your IP address and browsing history, preventing data brokers and cybercriminals creating profiles of you. With an ad-blocker(nuova finestra) that utilizes DNS filtering, you can protect your browsing history from marketers.
  • Use hide-my-email aliases when you create accounts online, so that your private email stays hidden and you’re protected from spam and phishing scams.

Remember, if a service is free, you’re the product. Being aware of and limiting the data you’re being asked to share online is one of the best ways you have to protect yourself against scams and targeted advertising. To create a better internet, it is necessary to resist the surveillance built into so many Big Tech platforms. Keep your valuable data safe and private.