Washington, D.C. - The Consumer Federation of America (CFA), on behalf of itself and a proposed class of D.C. Facebook users, has filed a class action complaint and jury trial demand , in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia Civil Division, against Meta Platforms, Inc (Meta) for misleading D.C. consumers about its detrimental role as " a pillar of the global fraud economy ."

Invoking the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA), in which a nonprofit or public interest organization may seek an injunction against the use of an unlawful trade practice, CFA seeks to recover damages, illegal profits, and injunctive relief for D.C. consumers and to prevent Meta from benefiting from its violations of D.C. law.

According to the Complaint, Meta misleads D.C. users about the steps it claims to be taking to fight fraud on its platform. While promising D.C. users that it is meaningfully fighting scams and removing scam content from its platform, in truth, Meta has adopted policies and practices that it knows allow scam advertisements to proliferate on its platforms while simultaneously profiting off those ads at its users' expense. Through public statements and official company policies, Meta claims that it does all it can to crack down on fraudulent advertising on its platforms. But in reality, Meta has knowingly taken steps and adopted policies that allow scam advertising to spread. In 2024 Meta anticipated that more than 10% of its earnings would come from scam advertisements, illegal gambling, and the sale of prohibited goods on its platforms. That $16 billion dollars Meta knowingly made off of scam ads is the same figure that Americans reported in Online Scams losses in 2024. Rather than prohibiting advertisers the company itself determined as higher risk, Meta chose to charge these advertisers a higher rate, increasing their profits by allowing higher-risk advertisers access to their users. Meta has misled its users, including those in D.C., about the risks they face every time they log onto one of Meta's platforms, including Facebook.

The D.C. CPPA makes it illegal for any person to "engage in an unfair or deceptive trade practice," and prohibits unlawful trade practices in connection with the offer, sale, advertisement, and supply of consumer goods and services. CFA, a non-profit organization based in D.C., brings this suit to enforce the D.C. CPPA in light of the resulting harm to D.C. consumers from Meta's deceptions and violations of law.

CFA recently published "The Scam Economy: The True Cost of Online Scams and Crimes in America," a report that uses scam reporting statistics from trusted government and third party sources as well as estimations of underreporting to show that Americans lose over $119 billion per year to online scams. Residents of D.C. have been particularly devastated, losing an estimated $2.1 billion each year to scams, the highest per capita figure in the country.

Last year, CFA published " Scamplified ," a report describing and classifying the different ways emerging technologies are used to produce scams and fraud at scale. Additionally, CFA has previously testified about how to address the proliferation of scams and fraud in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"As Americans lose more and more money to online scams, Meta has consistently chosen to prioritize profit over the safety of their users," said Ben Winters, Director of AI and Data Privacy. "Congress has failed to hold Meta accountable, the Trump Administration has become a Big Tech lobbying firm, and State AGs are stretched thin. Today, CFA is choosing direct action to protect DC residents, and will continue to champion protecting all consumers from the devastating harms of online scams."