Bombshell Report Exposes How Meta Relied on Scam Ad Profits to Fund AI
Postedabout 2 months agoActiveabout 2 months ago
arstechnica.comTechstory
heatednegative
Debate
40/100
MetaScam AdsAI FundingTech Ethics
Key topics
Meta
Scam Ads
AI Funding
Tech Ethics
A report reveals that Meta relied on profits from scam advertisements to fund its AI development, sparking outrage and concern over the company's practices.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
Discussion Activity
Light discussionFirst comment
3m
Peak period
2
0-1h
Avg / period
2
Key moments
- 01Story posted
Nov 6, 2025 at 2:48 PM EST
about 2 months ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
Nov 6, 2025 at 2:51 PM EST
3m after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
2 comments in 0-1h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03 - 04Latest activity
Nov 6, 2025 at 3:34 PM EST
about 2 months ago
Step 04
Generating AI Summary...
Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns
ID: 45839481Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 2:35:11 PM
Want the full context?
Jump to the original sources
Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.
-
>More recently, a 2025 document showed Meta continues to weigh how “abrupt reductions of scam advertising revenue could affect its business projections.”
-
>For example, in February, Meta told “the team responsible for vetting questionable advertisers” that they weren’t “allowed to take actions that could cost Meta more than 0.15 percent of the company’s total revenue,” Reuters reported. That’s any scam account worth about $135 million, Reuters noted. Stone pushed back, saying that the team was never given “a hard limit” on what the manager described as “specific revenue guardrails.”
Gosh it would be a shame if our cut of the scams were to stop ...