Meta is under fresh fire over some of its ads, and being watched carefully on what happens next. A new report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate says Facebook is awash in deceptive Medicare-themed ads that rely on bogus celebrity endorsements and that mainly target older users, reports NBC News. Thirty top scam accounts generated an estimated 215 million ad impressions over the past year, with nearly three-quarters of impressions coming from people 65 and up, according to the group.
The pitches dangle things like $3,600 in "free" groceries or gas, then harvest personal data or steer people into less favorable Medicare plans, the report says. Some of the ads come with fake celeb endorsements, including supposed thumbs-ups from President Trump, Oprah Winfrey, and Brad Pitt. Researchers also found repeat offenders with hundreds of rule violations still buying ads, and near-identical spots sometimes removed in one instance but approved in another.
Meta, which has faced multiple lawsuits and years of criticism over deceptive ads, says it removed more than 159 million scam ads in 2025 and calls scammers "determined criminals" using "increasingly sophisticated tactics." Per Bloomberg, one complaint filed against Meta claims that the company pulls in about $7 billion as a result of the misleading spots.
The company is reviewing the CCDH report and maintains that scams are bad for users and its business. Meanwhile, the advocacy group estimates that at least $14.3 million was spent on scam ads in a year and notes that Meta's own internal projections once suggested that about 10% of its ad revenue could be tied to scams and banned items, a figure Meta now says is "much lower."
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