Social media companies made €32m serving scam ads to Irish users, research estimates

DCM Editorial Summary: This story has been independently rewritten and summarised for DCM readers to highlight key developments relevant to the region. Original reporting by Irish Times, click this post to read the original article.

Social media companies made €32 million from showing scam advertisements to Irish users in 2025, according to new market research.

Across Europe, social media platforms made as much as £3.8 billion (€4.4 billion) from scam advertisements, according to estimates from research commissioned by Revolut and carried out my market research firm, Juniper.

It suggests that as much as one in 10 ads being shown to European social media users is fraudulent. These advertisements drew as many as 993 billion views across Europe, with Irish users being served such advertisements up to six billion times.

However, Irish users encounter fewer scam advertisements than those in other countries. An average of 164 scam advertisements per month are seen by people in Ireland compared to an average of 190 each month across the Continent.

If current trends continue to 2030, the research estimates that a figure of 250 scam ads will be seen by European users each month at that point, with the figure in Ireland being somewhat lower at 215. The increase would represent scam advertisements being seen as many as eight billion times in Ireland.

For people using the platforms, falling for scams can represent a significant financial loss. The research found that Irish social media users lost more than people in other countries when falling for scams.

The average loss in the Irish market was just over £1,292 (nearly €1,500), which was comparable to the UK at £1,258, but significantly higher than in most European countries.

“Ultimately, the paper illustrates that excluding the criminals themselves, social media companies are currently the primary beneficiaries of the fraud economy, and unless these firms step up and take meaningful action, it is consumers who continue paying the price,” Revolut said.

“If the impact of scam ads is not addressed, the value of social media platforms will be increasingly diminished,” the research reads. “It is in the best interest of platforms, such as Meta, to invest more substantially in processes that can better detect and block scam ads, and the advertisers looking to exploit social media platforms.

“In the short term, social media platforms may benefit in terms of ad revenue. However, this will damage social media platforms in the long run.”

The research focused on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, and LinkedIn. It excluded video streaming platforms such as YouTube and AWS-owned Twitch, as well as messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram from the umbrella social media segment.

Recent data presented to the Oireachtas finance committee by the Central Bank of Ireland suggested that 80 per cent of payment fraud originates on social media.