Mark Cuban says Facebook knowingly ran deepfake scam ads using his face
Saturday, 7 November 2026 · Marketing & design · Full report
International Business Times UK, 2026-11-06 | read: full article
What was found
A news report describes internal Meta documents, reviewed by Reuters, suggesting the company expected that regulators might fine it up to $1 billion, an amount far smaller than what it earned from scam advertising 1. In effect, the files appear to treat such penalties as a cost of doing business rather than a reason to stop. One internal estimate put about 10% of Meta's 2024 revenue, roughly $16 billion, as coming from scams and banned products. High-risk scam ads alone were valued at around $7 billion a year 1. The documents also indicated that users were shown about 15 billion higher-risk scam ads each day. Advertisers were banned only when Meta was 95% sure they were committing fraud, and other suspected scammers were simply charged more to advertise 1. Investor Mark Cuban said an AI-generated fake of his face was used on Facebook to sell bogus $294 diabetes treatments to older people 1. Meta called the 10% figure rough and too broad. It said it removed more than 159 million scam ads in 2025, 92% of them before anyone reported them, and shut down 10.9 million accounts linked to criminals 1.
Who it applies to
The findings concern Facebook and Meta's other apps, along with the advertisers, regulators and users who rely on them worldwide. Older people targeted by deepfake ads are especially affected 1.
How strong the evidence is
Moderate. This summary is based on the full article. The report is investigative journalism drawing on leaked internal files, public statements and court filings 1. The figures are large, covering billions of daily ad views and billions of dollars, but they come from the company's own estimates rather than independent audits. Meta disputes the key revenue figure. The results of pending lawsuits and regulatory actions are still unknown, so the true financial picture remains uncertain 1.
What it means in practice
If a platform earns more from scam ads than it expects to pay in fines, penalties alone may not change its behavior 1. People cannot assume an ad is genuine just because it shows a famous face, since AI fakes are common. This is especially true for health products aimed at seniors. Stronger protection would likely require rules that make advertisers prove who they are, along with legal consequences big enough to outweigh the profits from scams 1.
Original source
- Mark Cuban Says Facebook Knew, and Meta Files Show It Judged Scam Ad Fines Cheaper Than the Revenue (International Business Times UK, 2026-11-06)