Consumer Federation of America v. Meta Platforms, Inc.

On April 21, 2026, Tech Justice Law and Tyko Zavareeri filed a class action lawsuit against Meta in D.C. Superior Court on behalf of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and D.C. Facebook users, alleging that Meta mislead users about the safety of the platform while profiting from scam advertising on Facebook.

As shown by internal documents, Meta’s core advertising model not only permits but incentivizes scam ads. According to the filing, Meta identifies “high-risk” advertisers—including those likely engaged in fraud—yet instead of removing them, it charges them higher prices and continues to distribute their scam ads to the users most likely to engage with them. Meta’s algorithms, fueled by extensive user data, amplify the harm by targeting vulnerable users and increasing their exposure to scams.

Critically, the complaint also highlights how Meta affirmatively undermined its own internal anti-fraud efforts. Internal policies reportedly restricted enforcement teams from taking actions that would reduce company revenue beyond a narrow threshold, effectively limiting their ability to remove fraudulent advertisers. At the same time, Meta deprioritized scam enforcement by classifying such ads as “low severity,” reduced staffing dedicated to fraud prevention, and ignored or rejected the vast majority of user reports of scams. These constraints effectively hamstrung internal teams and ensured that scam ads remained profitable and widespread on the platform.

Invoking the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act (CPPA), which allows a nonprofit or public interest organization to seek an injunction against unlawful trade practices, CFA seeks to recover damages, illegal profits, and injunctive relief for D.C. consumers and to prevent Meta from further benefiting from its violations of D.C. law. The CPPA makes it illegal for any person to “engage in an unfair or deceptive trade practice,” and broadly prohibits unlawful conduct in connection with the offer, sale, advertisement, and supply of consumer goods and services. CFA, a D.C.-based consumer protection nonprofit, brings this action to enforce the statute in light of the harms caused to consumers by Meta’s alleged deception.

The lawsuit includes claims under the CPPA for misrepresentation, omission of material facts, misleading ambiguity, and unfair trade practices, alleging that Meta misled users about platform safety while knowingly profiting from scam activity. The lawsuit seeks class-wide relief, including actual damages, statutory and treble damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and a permanent injunction requiring Meta to cease deceptive practices and reform its advertising systems.