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Team combatting fraud at Meta’s Chinese ad partners dispanded after Zuckerberg input

與 Meta 中國廣告合作伙伴打擊欺詐的團隊在扎克伯格的干預下解散

Meta to probe foreign agencies using Chinese partners for ad fraud after Reuters report

在路透社報道後，Meta 將調查使用中國合作伙伴進行廣告欺詐的外國機構

Meta’s partner protections enable harmful ads to remain active longer

Meta 的合作伙伴保護措施使有害廣告的活躍時間延長

By Jeff Horwitz and Engen Tham

作者：Jeff Horwitz 和 Engen Tham

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 15 (Reuters) -

舊金山，12 月 15 日（路透社）-

Last year, Meta had to reckon with an ugly conclusion about its Chinese advertising customers: They were defrauding Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users worldwide.

去年，Meta 不得不面對一個令人不快的結論：其中國廣告客户正在欺詐全球的 Facebook、Instagram 和 WhatsApp 用户。

Though China’s authoritarian government bans use of Meta social media by its citizens, Beijing lets Chinese companies advertise to foreign consumers on the globe-spanning platforms. As a result, Meta’s advertising business was thriving in China, ultimately reaching over $18 billion in annual sales in 2024, more than a tenth of the company’s global revenue.

儘管中國的專制政府禁止其公民使用 Meta 社交媒體，但北京允許中國公司在全球範圍的平台上向外國消費者投放廣告。因此，Meta 的廣告業務在中國蓬勃發展，最終在 2024 年達到了超過 180 億美元的年銷售額，佔公司全球收入的十分之一以上。

But Meta calculated that about 19% of that money – more than $3 billion – was coming from ads for scams, illegal gambling, pornography and other banned content, according to internal Meta documents reviewed by Reuters.

但 Meta 計算出，大約 19% 的收入——超過 30 億美元——來自於詐騙、非法賭博、色情和其他被禁止內容的廣告，根據路透社審查的 Meta 內部文件。

The documents are part of a cache of previously unreported material generated over the past four years by teams including Meta’s finance, lobbying, engineering and safety divisions. The cache reveals Meta’s efforts over that period to understand the scale of abuse on its platforms and the company’s reluctance to introduce fixes that could undermine its business and revenues.

這些文件是過去四年中由包括 Meta 的財務、遊説、工程和安全部門在內的團隊生成的一批未報告材料的一部分。這批材料揭示了 Meta 在此期間努力瞭解其平台上濫用行為的規模，以及公司對引入可能削弱其業務和收入的修復措施的猶豫。

The documents show that Meta believed China was the country of origin of roughly a quarter of all ads for scams and banned products on Meta’s platforms worldwide. Victims ranged from shoppers in Taiwan who purchased bogus health supplements to investors in the United States and Canada who were swindled out of their savings. “We need to make significant investment to reduce growing harm,” Meta staffers warned in an internal April 2024 presentation to leaders of its safety operations.

文件顯示，Meta 認為中國是全球範圍內大約四分之一詐騙和被禁止產品廣告的來源國。受害者包括在台灣購買虛假保健品的購物者，以及在美國和加拿大被詐騙的投資者。“我們需要進行重大投資以減少日益嚴重的危害，” Meta 員工在 2024 年 4 月的一次內部演示中向其安全運營領導警告。

To that end, Meta created an anti-fraud team that went beyond previous efforts to monitor scams and other banned activity from China. Using a variety of stepped-up enforcement tools, it slashed the problematic ads by about half during the second half of 2024 – from 19% to 9% of the total advertising revenue coming from China.

為此，Meta 創建了一個反欺詐團隊，超越了之前監控來自中國的詐騙和其他被禁止活動的努力。通過多種加強執法工具，它在 2024 年下半年將問題廣告減少了約一半——從 19% 降至 9%。

Then Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg weighed in.

然後，Meta 首席執行官馬克·扎克伯格發表了意見。

“As a result of Integrity Strategy pivot and follow-up from Zuck,” a late 2024 document notes, the China ads-enforcement team was “asked to pause” its work. Reuters was unable to learn the specifics of the CEO’s involvement or what the so-called “Integrity Strategy pivot” entailed.

“由於誠信戰略的轉變和扎克伯格的後續跟進，” 一份 2024 年晚些時候的文件指出，中國廣告執法團隊被 “要求暫停” 其工作。路透社未能瞭解首席執行官的具體參與情況或所謂的 “誠信戰略轉變” 包含的內容。

But after Zuckerberg’s input, the documents show, Meta disbanded its China-focused anti-scam team. It also lifted a freeze it had introduced on granting new Chinese ad agencies access to its platforms. One document shows that Meta shelved yet other anti-scam measures that internal tests had indicated would be effective. The document didn’t detail the specifics of those measures.

但在扎克伯格的干預後，文件顯示，Meta 解散了其專注於中國的反詐騙團隊。它還解除了一項對新中國廣告代理商訪問其平台的凍結。一份文件顯示，Meta 擱置了其他內部測試表明有效的反詐騙措施。該文件未詳細説明這些措施的具體內容。

Meta took these steps even as an outside consultant it hired produced research that warned “Meta’s own behaviour and policies” were fostering systemic corruption in the Chinese market for ads targeting users in other countries, additional documents show.

儘管如此，Meta 採取了這些步驟，因為它聘請的外部顧問所做的研究警告稱，“Meta 自身的行為和政策” 正在助長中國市場針對其他國家用户的廣告的系統性腐敗，其他文件顯示。

The upshot: Within a few months of Meta’s brief crackdown, a new crop of Chinese advertising agencies was flooding Facebook and Instagram with prohibited ads. By mid-2025, banned ads climbed back to about 16% of Meta’s China revenue.

結果是：在 Meta 短暫打擊後的幾個月內，一批新的中國廣告代理商開始向 Facebook 和 Instagram 湧入被禁止的廣告。到 2025 年中，禁止廣告再次攀升至 Meta 中國收入的約 16%。

Rob Leathern, who headed Meta’s business integrity operations until 2019 and is no longer at the company, said the scale of predatory advertising revealed in the documents represents a major breakdown in consumer protections at the social media giant.

Rob Leathern，曾在 2019 年前負責 Meta 的商業誠信運營，現已離開公司，他表示，文件中揭示的掠奪性廣告規模代表了社交媒體巨頭在消費者保護方面的重大失誤。

“The levels that you’re talking about are not defensible,” he said of the percentage of abusive ads. “I don’t know how anyone could think this is okay.”

“你所談論的水平是不可辯護的，” 他談到濫用廣告的比例時説。“我不知道任何人怎麼會認為這是可以接受的。”

In a statement to Reuters, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the work of the special team devoted to fighting Chinese fraud was always meant to be temporary. Zuckerberg’s order to teams working on scams and other high-risk harms, he said, “was to redouble efforts to reduce them all across the globe, including in China.”

在給路透社的聲明中，Meta 發言人安迪·斯通表示，專門打擊中國欺詐的特別團隊的工作始終是臨時的。他表示，扎克伯格對處理詐騙和其他高風險危害的團隊的指示是 “加倍努力減少全球範圍內的這些問題，包括在中國。”

As part of its normal enforcement processes, Stone said, Meta’s automated systems over the past 18 months have blocked or removed 46 million ads submitted through its Chinese business partners, usually before users saw them. Stone said Meta has severed relationships with unspecified Chinese agencies over misbehavior in the past and that the company docks commissions for Chinese partners that run too many violating ads.

斯通表示，作為其正常執法流程的一部分，Meta 在過去 18 個月中已阻止或刪除了 4600 萬條通過其中國業務合作伙伴提交的廣告，通常是在用户看到之前。斯通表示，Meta 已與因不當行為而與不明中國代理商斷絕關係，並且公司會對投放過多違規廣告的中國合作伙伴扣除佣金。

“Scams are spiking across the internet, driven by persistent criminals and sophisticated, organized crime syndicates constantly evolving their schemes to evade detection,” Stone wrote. “We are focused on rooting them out by using advanced technical measures and new tools, disrupting criminal scam networks, working with industry partners and law enforcement, and raising awareness on our platforms.”

“網絡詐騙正在激增，受到持續犯罪分子和不斷演變的有組織犯罪集團的推動，他們不斷改進其方案以逃避檢測，” 斯通寫道。“我們專注於通過使用先進的技術手段和新工具，打擊犯罪詐騙網絡，與行業合作伙伴和執法部門合作，並在我們的平台上提高意識來根除這些問題。”

The statement didn’t address many of the questions Reuters asked Meta about the documents, the policy discussions reflected in them, or the business decisions the company took as a result.

該聲明未回應路透社關於文件、反映其中的政策討論或公司因此採取的商業決策的許多問題。

The revelations about Meta’s China business come at a time when the social media giant is already under fire for failing to curtail a deluge of advertising that promotes fraud and banned goods.

關於 Meta 中國業務的揭露恰逢社交媒體巨頭因未能遏制大量推廣欺詐和被禁止商品的廣告而受到批評。

Reuters reported last month

路透社上個月報道，

that Meta earns $7 billion a year just from the portion of scam ads it considers “high risk,” and that 10% of the company’s 2024 revenue – about $16 billion – was projected to come from ads for scams, illegal gambling and banned products. Following the story,

Meta 每年僅從其認為 “高風險” 的詐騙廣告部分就賺取 70 億美元，預計 2024 年公司約 10% 的收入——約 160 億美元——將來自詐騙、非法賭博和被禁止產品的廣告。隨後，

two U.S. senators called on

兩位美國參議員呼籲

the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to look into the matter and “pursue vigorous enforcement action where appropriate.”

證券交易委員會和聯邦貿易委員會對此事進行調查，並 “在適當情況下采取強有力的執法行動。”

Nowhere are the tradeoffs Meta makes between protecting its users and protecting its revenue clearer than in China, a market unlike any other the company operates in. Meta staff in the internal documents characterize China as the company’s top “Scam Exporting Nation” and identify the country as the single largest source for a surge in fraud on its platforms.

在中國，Meta 在保護用户與保護收入之間的權衡顯得尤為明顯，這個市場與公司運營的其他市場截然不同。Meta 內部文件中的員工將中國稱為公司最大的 “詐騙輸出國”，並將該國視為其平台上詐騙激增的最大來源。

The Chinese government didn’t respond to detailed questions sent by Reuters for this report to offices including the commerce, foreign and public-security ministries and its agencies for market and cyberspace administration.

中國政府沒有對路透社為本報告發送的詳細問題作出回應，這些問題涉及包括商務部、外交部和公共安全部在內的多個部門及其市場和網絡空間管理機構。

China is so central to Meta’s scam problem that the company believes its national holidays affect the level of fraud on Facebook and Instagram globally: During the “Golden Week” holiday in October, when hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens travel, the rate of scams on Meta’s platforms declines worldwide, one document notes.

中國在 Meta 的詐騙問題中佔據如此重要的地位，以至於該公司認為其國慶假期會影響 Facebook 和 Instagram 上的全球詐騙水平：一份文件指出，在十月的 “黃金週” 假期期間，數億中國公民出行，Meta 平台上的詐騙率在全球範圍內下降。

The harm inflicted on consumers by the tech giant’s Chinese advertisers can be immense: In March 2025, federal prosecutors in Illinois said that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation seized $214 million in proceeds from the promoters of one fraud that used Facebook and Instagram ads to lure victims into a Chinese stock scam. When users clicked on the ads, they were routed into WhatsApp groups run by “individuals in China posing as U.S.-based investment advisors,” said the prosecutors in a statement. Those “advisers” ultimately steered the victims into purchasing stock at vastly inflated prices, they said.

科技巨頭的中國廣告商對消費者造成的傷害可能是巨大的：2025 年 3 月，伊利諾伊州的聯邦檢察官表示，美國聯邦調查局從一個利用 Facebook 和 Instagram 廣告誘騙受害者進入中國股票詐騙的推廣者那裏查獲了 2.14 億美元的收益。當用户點擊廣告時，他們被引導進入由 “在中國冒充美國投資顧問的個人” 管理的 WhatsApp 羣組，檢察官在一份聲明中表示。這些 “顧問” 最終引導受害者以極高的價格購買股票。

The prosecutors charged seven people from Taiwan and Malaysia, still believed to be at large abroad, with wire fraud and securities fraud. The FBI declined to provide additional details on the case, and the Department of Justice didn’t respond to a request for comment.

檢察官指控七名來自台灣和馬來西亞的人，仍被認為在國外潛逃，涉及電信詐騙和證券詐騙。FBI 拒絕提供該案件的更多細節，司法部也未對此請求作出回應。

Stone, the Meta spokesperson, told Reuters the company cooperated with law enforcement and removed thousands of accounts involved in the scheme.

Meta 發言人 Stone 告訴路透社，該公司與執法部門合作，刪除了數千個參與該計劃的賬户。

“LITTLE OR NO RISK” FOR FRAUDSTERS

“幾乎沒有風險” 對於詐騙者來説

In China, Meta sells most of its ads through 11 major Chinese ad agency partners, referred to as “top tier resellers.” Those big players both sell ads and recruit smaller advertising agencies, most but not all based in China, to purchase Facebook and Instagram ads through their systems. The Meta spokesperson told Reuters that company policy forbids Chinese partners from working with ad agencies or advertisers outside of China. Meta will investigate instances of such conduct that Reuters raised in this report, he added.

在中國，Meta 通過 11 家主要的中國廣告代理合作伙伴銷售大部分廣告，這些代理被稱為 “頂級轉售商”。這些大玩家既銷售廣告，又招募較小的廣告代理，大多數但並非全部位於中國，通過他們的系統購買 Facebook 和 Instagram 廣告。Meta 發言人告訴路透社，公司政策禁止中國合作伙伴與中國以外的廣告代理或廣告商合作。他補充説，Meta 將調查路透社在本報告中提到的此類行為。

The second-tier agencies, meanwhile, work with an ever-changing roster of advertisers who aren’t interacting directly with the big agencies or Meta itself. As a result of this complex set-up, an opaque system of intermediaries exists.

與此同時，二級代理與不斷變化的廣告商名單合作，這些廣告商並未直接與大代理或 Meta 本身互動。因此，形成了一個不透明的中介系統。

The system is prone to facilitating advertisements for scams, illegal gambling and banned goods, according to internal documents, former staffers and a detailed report conducted for Meta by Propellerfish, the London-based consultants who warned that the company’s own behavior was encouraging fraud. Meta hired the consultancy last year to study why its business in China was generating so much banned advertising.

根據內部文件、前員工和為 Meta 進行的詳細報告，系統容易促進詐騙、非法賭博和禁售商品的廣告。倫敦諮詢公司 Propellerfish 警告稱，Meta 自身的行為正在助長詐騙。Meta 去年聘請該諮詢公司研究其在中國的業務為何產生如此多的禁售廣告。

Propellerfish didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story.

Propellerfish 沒有對本報道的評論請求作出回應。

To place an ad on Facebook or Instagram, an advertiser must establish a user account, which requires little more than a name and a birthdate. But fake or stolen accounts are widespread, the Propellerfish report found, making it easy for fraudulent advertisers to disguise themselves.

要在 Facebook 或 Instagram 上投放廣告，廣告商必須建立一個用户賬户，這隻需要一個名字和出生日期。但 Propellerfish 報告發現，虛假或被盜賬户普遍存在，使得欺詐廣告商容易偽裝自己。

Chinese technology firms also sell tools that obscure advertisers’ true identities and disguise fraudulent ads as innocuous, the report said. And artificial intelligence tools are used to generate fake documents, in case Meta attempts to verify the advertiser.

中國科技公司還銷售工具，掩蓋廣告商的真實身份，並將欺詐廣告偽裝成無害的廣告，報告稱。而且，人工智能工具被用來生成虛假文件，以防 Meta 嘗試驗證廣告商。

Compounding the phenomenon is an entire industry of “ad optimization specialists” that exploit weaknesses in Meta’s enforcement systems and create ads for scams and banned goods, the report said. The shady advertising campaigns these specialists managed were often funded by “informal” sources, including loan sharks. The report didn’t cite any of these sources by name.

這一現象的加劇是因為有一個完整的 “廣告優化專家” 行業，利用 Meta 的執法系統的弱點，為詐騙和禁售商品創建廣告，報告稱。這些專家管理的陰暗廣告活動通常由 “非正式” 來源資助，包括高利貸。報告沒有具體列出這些來源的名稱。

Because the harmful advertising doesn’t target Chinese citizens, the Propellerfish consultants concluded, China’s government generally turns a blind eye. “The Chinese government does not interfere when violations target overseas audiences,” the report noted. Crooked domestic advertisers, therefore, face “little or no risk.” Chinese authorities didn’t respond to questions about the Propellerfish analysis.

由於有害廣告並不針對中國公民，Propellerfish 的顧問得出結論，中國政府通常對此視而不見。報告指出：“當違規行為針對海外受眾時，中國政府不會干預。” 因此，國內不法廣告商面臨 “幾乎沒有風險”。中國當局沒有對 Propellerfish 分析的相關問題作出回應。

Other social media platforms sell ads in China via similar networks of ad agency partners. But compared with its chief competitors for online advertising revenue, Meta has been more tolerant of illicit practices in China, Propellerfish found. “Enforcement is seen as inconsistent” by would-be abusers, the report said. TikTok was “stricter,” it continued, and Google required thorough identity checks.

其他社交媒體平台通過類似的廣告代理合作伙伴網絡在中國銷售廣告。但與其在線廣告收入的主要競爭對手相比，Propellerfish 發現 Meta 對中國的非法行為更為寬容。報告稱：“執法被視為不一致。” TikTok 則 “更嚴格”，而谷歌要求進行徹底的身份檢查。

Google and TikTok didn’t respond to requests for comment.

谷歌和 TikTok 沒有對評論請求作出回應。

Still, Meta considers its approach with Chinese advertisers to be acceptable, documents show.

儘管如此，Meta 認為其與中國廣告商的做法是可以接受的，文件顯示。

In one February 2025 document, it noted the “adversarial” nature of the Chinese market, where some advertisers are focused on quick profits, not steady business or brand-building. Unspecified “cultural factors,” the document added, destigmatize unethical business practices targeting foreigners.

在一份 2025 年 2 月的文件中，它提到中國市場的 “對抗性” 特徵，一些廣告商專注於快速獲利，而不是穩定的業務或品牌建設。文件補充説，未具體説明的 “文化因素” 使針對外國人的不道德商業行為不再受到污名化。

In the same February document, Meta managers said the company would tolerate elevated levels of misconduct by Chinese advertisers on a permanent basis. Rather than seek “parity” between the quality of Chinese ads and the rest of the world – a target it appeared close to achieving during its brief battle against fraudsters last year – it would preserve the status quo, merely aiming to “maintain the % of global harm” from China.

在同一份 2 月的文件中，Meta 管理層表示，公司將長期容忍中國廣告商的高水平不當行為。與其尋求中國廣告與世界其他地區廣告質量的 “平等”——在去年與詐騙者的短暫鬥爭中似乎接近實現——不如維持現狀，僅僅旨在 “維持來自中國的全球傷害比例”。

SCAMMERS “ACCOMPLISH THEIR OBJECTIVES”

詐騙者 “實現他們的目標”

After China blocked its citizens from accessing major Western social media platforms in 2009, Meta spent years trying to get back into the country, home to a billion-plus potential users of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

在中國於 2009 年封鎖其公民訪問主要西方社交媒體平台後，Meta 花費了數年時間試圖重新進入這個擁有超過十億潛在 Facebook、Instagram 和 WhatsApp 用户的國家。

As part of a charm offensive, Zuckerberg visited China, studied Mandarin and met Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to news reports at the time. Meta and Chinese officials didn’t respond to questions about Zuckerberg’s outreach to Xi.

據當時的新聞報道，扎克伯格作為一項魅力攻勢，訪問了中國，學習了普通話，並會見了中國國家主席習近平。Meta 和中國官員沒有回應關於扎克伯格與習近平接觸的問題。

Less publicly, Meta built a secret system that would have given the Chinese government the ability to directly moderate Chinese users’ content if Meta won permission to reenter the market, according to

在不公開的情況下，Meta 建立了一個秘密系統，如果 Meta 獲得重新進入市場的許可，該系統將使中國政府能夠直接管理中國用户的內容，

a 2016 New York Times report

根據 2016 年《紐約時報》的報道，

and an internal company document from that period seen by Reuters.

以及路透社看到的那段時間的內部公司文件。

None of these efforts worked.

這些努力都沒有成功。

China’s government, however, didn’t block mainland businesses from running ads that target social media users outside the country. That advertising eventually would help Chinese companies reach millions of buyers around the world.

然而，中國政府並沒有阻止大陸企業投放針對境外社交媒體用户的廣告。這些廣告最終幫助中國公司接觸到全球數百萬買家。

China now represents 11% of Meta’s overall revenue.

中國現在佔 Meta 整體收入的 11%。

Part of Meta’s success there has been driven by Shein and Temu, retail powerhouses that sell direct to consumers worldwide and that aren’t the source of Meta’s fraud problem, according to the internal documents. Those two Chinese companies, documents from July 2024 show, were Meta’s largest advertisers anywhere, spending on average a combined $17 million on Facebook and Instagram every day. Amazon, which spent $4.8 million daily, was third.

Meta 在中國的成功部分得益於 Shein 和 Temu，這兩家零售巨頭直接向全球消費者銷售，並且不是 Meta 欺詐問題的源頭，內部文件顯示。這兩家中國公司在 2024 年 7 月的文件中顯示，是 Meta 在任何地方最大的廣告客户，平均每天在 Facebook 和 Instagram 上花費 1700 萬美元。亞馬遜以每日 480 萬美元的支出位居第三。

Shein, Temu and Amazon didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Shein、Temu 和亞馬遜沒有回應評論請求。

The fraud, the documents said, comes usually from small and medium-sized Chinese businesses recruited by Meta’s ad agency partners.

文件稱，欺詐通常來自 Meta 廣告代理合作伙伴招募的小型和中型中國企業。

In most of the world, advertisers on Facebook and Instagram buy ads through a business profile that is linked to advertisers’ accounts and related pages they control. But because businesses can’t readily access the platforms in China, Meta pays the 11 large Chinese ad agencies – known as resellers – to enlist advertisers and run ads for them on so-called “agency accounts.”

在世界大多數地方，Facebook 和 Instagram 上的廣告客户通過與廣告客户的賬户和相關頁面關聯的商業資料購買廣告。但由於企業無法在中國輕鬆訪問這些平台，Meta 向 11 家大型中國廣告代理商支付費用——這些代理商被稱為轉售商——以招募廣告客户並在所謂的 “代理賬户” 上為他們投放廣告。

Meta pays a roughly 10% commission to agencies for ads purchased through these accounts and grants them special protections. For instance, under a system known as “whitelisting” or “mistake prevention,” Meta doesn’t immediately remove ads purchased via top-tier agencies when they’re flagged by automated systems for breaking Meta’s advertising rules, internal documents say. Such rules ban the advertising of scams, illegal goods and services, and certain other products such as sex toys.

Meta 向通過這些賬户購買廣告的代理商支付大約 10% 的佣金，並給予他們特殊保護。例如，在一種被稱為 “白名單” 或 “錯誤預防” 的系統下，Meta 不會立即刪除通過頂級代理商購買的廣告，即使這些廣告被自動系統標記為違反 Meta 的廣告規則，內部文件稱。這些規則禁止廣告詐騙、非法商品和服務，以及某些其他產品，如性玩具。

Instead, suspect ads remain active as they undergo a secondary review by a human. If Meta’s staffers are busy, that might take days – or never happen at all. And in the meantime, Meta continues to show the ads.

相反，可疑廣告在接受人工二次審核時仍然保持活躍。如果 Meta 的工作人員忙，這可能需要幾天時間——或者根本不會發生。在此期間，Meta 繼續展示這些廣告。

“Unfortunately the added time for secondary review is adequate for scammers to accomplish their objectives by gaining massive impressions,” one document says.

“不幸的是，二次審核所需的額外時間足以讓詐騙者實現他們的目標，獲得大量曝光，” 一份文件稱。

Some of Meta’s Chinese partners openly advertise their ability to shield clients from Meta enforcement. “80% lower chance of suspension than other regular agents,” promises the website of Yinolink, one of Meta’s official Chinese partners.

一些 Meta 的中國合作伙伴公開宣傳他們能夠保護客户免受 Meta 執法的能力。“比其他普通代理商低 80% 的暫停機會，” Meta 的官方中國合作伙伴之一 Yinolink 的網站承諾。

Yinolink didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Yinolink 沒有回應評論請求。

Meta also allows its Chinese partners to share their accounts with smaller ad agencies, known to the company as “second-tier” resellers. The practice gives Meta even less knowledge of the parties with whom it is doing business, internal documents show, be it the lower-level ad agencies or the clients buying the ads.

Meta 還允許其中國合作伙伴與較小的廣告代理商共享他們的賬户，這些代理商在公司內部被稱為 “二級” 轉售商。這一做法使 Meta 對其商業往來的各方知之甚少，內部文件顯示，無論是較低級別的廣告代理商還是購買廣告的客户。

As such, the system is impossible for Meta to closely police, Propellerfish’s analysis of the Chinese market determined. “Purchasing accounts is trivially easy,” it said.

因此，Propellerfish 對中國市場的分析認為，該系統對 Meta 來説幾乎不可能進行嚴格監管。“購買賬户非常簡單，” 它表示。

“Violation or not,” one ad optimization specialist told a Propellerfish consultant, “it doesn’t make much difference for us.” The report didn’t identify the specialist or the consultant, who was posing on behalf of Propellerfish as a mystery shopper.

“違規與否，” 一位廣告優化專家告訴 Propellerfish 的顧問，“對我們來説並沒有太大區別。” 報告沒有透露專家或顧問的身份，顧問以神秘購物者的身份代表 Propellerfish 進行諮詢。

To determine how scam ads can be purchased on Facebook or Instagram using a Chinese agency, a U.S.-based Reuters reporter placed ads through intermediaries working with Meta’s top Chinese partners. The intermediaries were second-tier agencies, some of whom Meta also certified as “Badged Partners,” described in an official directory on its website as “trusted experts.” Some of these lower-level partners openly boasted about their ability to run banned ads on Meta’s platforms.

為了確定如何通過中國代理購買 Facebook 或 Instagram 上的詐騙廣告，一名駐美國的路透社記者通過與 Meta 的頂級中國合作伙伴合作的中介投放廣告。這些中介是二級代理商，其中一些也被 Meta 認證為 “Badged Partners”，在其官方網站的官方目錄中被描述為 “可信賴的專家”。一些這些低級別的合作伙伴公開誇耀他們能夠在 Meta 的平台上投放被禁止的廣告。

Two of the agencies Reuters placed ads with were based outside China. In text chats, the reporter openly stated his interest in running banned ads at the time of purchase and received no resistance from the resellers. It cost $30 or less – paid via cryptocurrency – to set up each account. (See related story on

路透社投放廣告的兩家代理商位於中國以外。在文本聊天中，記者在購買時公開表示他有興趣投放被禁止的廣告，並沒有受到轉售商的抵制。設置每個賬户的費用為 30 美元或更少——通過加密貨幣支付。（請參見相關故事，

how we did this

我們是如何做到的

。）

The ad accounts controlled by these lower-level ad agencies came from some of Meta’s leading Chinese partners, including GatherOne and Cheetah Mobile. Reuters then used the subleased accounts to place ads touting investments with unrealistic rates of return – a test of Meta’s policies against get-rich-quick schemes. The ads ran unimpeded and prompted interest from dozens of Facebook users. Reuters informed the users the ads had been a journalistic test.

這些低級別廣告代理商控制的廣告賬户來自 Meta 的一些主要中國合作伙伴，包括 GatherOne 和 Cheetah Mobile。路透社隨後使用這些轉租的賬户投放宣傳不切實際回報率的投資廣告——這是對 Meta 針對快速致富計劃政策的測試。這些廣告毫無阻礙地運行，並引起了數十名 Facebook 用户的興趣。路透社告知用户這些廣告是一次新聞測試。

Cheetah Mobile and GatherOne didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Cheetah Mobile 和 GatherOne 沒有回應評論請求。

Shortly before publication of this report, Meta deleted its Badged Partner directory from its website. “We’re reviewing the program,” Stone said, adding that the company would investigate how official Chinese agency accounts ended up in the hands of non-Chinese companies.

在本報告發布前不久，Meta 從其網站上刪除了 Badged Partner 目錄。“我們正在審查該項目，” Stone 説，並補充説公司將調查官方中國代理賬户如何落入非中國公司之手。

“WE ARE SEEING HARM”

“我們正在看到傷害。”

Between 2022 and 2024, Meta’s Chinese ad revenue more than doubled, from $7.4 billion to $18.4 billion, according to the company’s public financial statements. As the business soared, it grew increasingly apparent inside the company that fraudulent practices were widespread in China, the internal documents show.

根據公司的公開財務報表，從 2022 年到 2024 年，Meta 在中國的廣告收入翻了一番，從 74 億美元增至 184 億美元。隨着業務的迅猛增長，內部文件顯示，公司內部越來越明顯地意識到中國存在廣泛的欺詐行為。

In 2023, as part of an earlier effort to address fraud, Meta stopped verifying new Chinese ad agency partners because of the “high harm” these intermediaries were causing, one document says. But Meta lifted the moratorium after its 2024 “pivot” in order to “unlock” revenue.

2023 年，作為早期應對欺詐的努力的一部分，Meta 停止了對新的中國廣告代理合作伙伴的驗證，因為這些中介造成了 “高危害”，一份文件顯示。但 Meta 在 2024 年 “轉型” 後解除了一項禁令，以 “解鎖” 收入。

By late 2024, lower-tier Chinese ad agencies were once again gaining access to verified accounts on Meta’s platforms. Of the annualized $240 million in advertising from newly verified resellers that year, half violated Meta’s safety rules, Meta determined. “We are seeing harm from these newly verified agencies,” the document says.

到 2024 年底，低層次的中國廣告代理再次獲得了 Meta 平台上經過驗證的賬户的訪問權限。Meta 確定，在當年新驗證的轉售商中，年化廣告收入為 2.4 億美元，其中一半違反了 Meta 的安全規則。“我們看到這些新驗證的代理造成了傷害，” 文件中寫道。

Staffers responded by creating a dashboard to track the newly verified partners and started holding “weekly monitoring sessions to review and address problematic agencies.” Due to the high rates of misconduct, Stone said, Meta reimposed its moratorium on verifying new Chinese agency partners in late 2024.

員工們通過創建一個儀表板來跟蹤新驗證的合作伙伴，並開始舉行 “每週監控會議，以審查和解決問題代理”。由於不當行為的高發率，Stone 表示，Meta 在 2024 年底重新實施了對新中國代理合作伙伴的驗證禁令。

One top Chinese advertiser illustrates the holes in Meta’s vetting process.

一位頂級中國廣告商展示了 Meta 審核流程中的漏洞。

Last year, according to one document, Meta found that more than half the ads run by an advertiser called Beijing Tengze Technology Co Ltd broke Meta’s rules against deceptive practices. The documents don’t detail the products or services that Beijing Tengze was advertising. But the company was on an internal list of Meta’s top 200 advertisers worldwide, in the same league as brands such as American Express, BMW and Chanel.

根據一份文件，去年 Meta 發現一家名為北京騰澤科技有限公司的廣告商所投放的廣告中，有超過一半違反了 Meta 關於欺騙性行為的規則。文件沒有詳細説明北京騰澤所宣傳的產品或服務。但該公司在 Meta 全球前 200 大廣告商的內部名單中，與美國運通、寶馬和香奈兒等品牌同列。

Still, Meta didn’t stop doing business with Beijing Tengze, internal documents show. Instead, Meta started charging the company more to advertise. The measure followed a Meta policy that seeks to discourage fraudsters by making them pay a “penalty.”

儘管如此，內部文件顯示，Meta 並沒有停止與北京騰澤的業務往來。相反，Meta 開始向該公司收取更高的廣告費用。這一措施遵循了 Meta 的一項政策，旨在通過讓欺詐者支付 “罰款” 來打擊欺詐行為。

Meta told Reuters it later cut ties with Beijing Tengze. It didn’t specify when. Chinese business records show the company shut down early this year. A visit by the news agency to what had been its listed address led to a residential street in a mountain town nearly two hours from Beijing. The address, given as the headquarters of one of Meta’s top advertisers, turned out not to exist.

Meta 告訴路透社，後來與北京騰澤斷絕了關係，但沒有具體説明時間。中國商業記錄顯示，該公司在今年年初關閉。新聞機構對其登記地址的訪問發現，那裏是一條位於距離北京近兩小時的山區的住宅街。作為 Meta 頂級廣告商之一的總部地址，結果發現並不存在。

Business records show the majority owner of Beijing Tengze was a man named Lin Zedun. Lin also controls several other companies, including Shenzhen Fugaoda Technology Co Ltd, that state they advertise on Facebook and Instagram.

商業記錄顯示，北京騰澤的主要股東是一名叫林澤敦的男子。林還控制着幾家公司，包括深圳富高達科技有限公司，該公司聲稱在 Facebook 和 Instagram 上做廣告。

Shenzhen Fugaoda is listed as an active business in Chinese registry records. But a visit by Reuters to the official address of that company’s headquarters in Shenzhen, in southeast China, led to an empty office with trash on the floor. The building’s superintendent told Reuters the company, after missing rent payments, abruptly vacated the office in the spring of 2024.

深圳富高達在中國註冊記錄中被列為活躍企業。但路透社對該公司在中國東南部深圳的官方總部地址的訪問發現，那裏是一間空蕩蕩的辦公室，地上滿是垃圾。大樓的管理員告訴路透社，該公司在 2024 年春季因未支付租金而突然搬離了辦公室。

Reuters couldn’t determine where the company went. Lin, the company owner, didn’t respond to a request by email for comment.

路透社無法確定該公司去了哪裏。公司所有者林沒有回覆電子郵件請求評論。

Several months after leaving its headquarters, Shenzhen Fuguoda was again active, posting ads on a Chinese job site to hire specialists in social media advertising and e-commerce. “Priority will be given to those with experience in distributing small black goods in Europe and America,” the ad said, using common Mandarin slang for black-market products.

在離開總部幾個月後，深圳富高達再次活躍，在一箇中國招聘網站上發佈廣告，招聘社交媒體廣告和電子商務的專家。“優先考慮有在歐洲和美國分銷小黑貨經驗的人，” 廣告中寫道，使用了普通話中對黑市產品的常見俚語。

Early this year, as part of its effort to maintain the level of fraud it had deemed tolerable, Meta began adjusting the commissions it paid to Chinese ad agencies, a document states. The new payments are meant to account for the quality of ads the agencies place: If they bring too many scams or false advertisers, Meta will pay them less.

今年年初，作為維持其認為可容忍的欺詐水平的一部分，Meta 開始調整對中國廣告代理的佣金，一份文件顯示。這些新支付旨在考慮代理投放廣告的質量：如果他們帶來太多的詐騙或虛假廣告，Meta 將支付更少。

The change doesn’t appear to have altered many agencies’ tactics.

這一變化似乎並沒有改變許多代理的策略。

In May, for example, Meta staffers sampled Chinese ads amid a spike in violations on the platform, one document shows. They found that a collection of 800 advertising accounts in the previous month alone had generated $28 million in ads that violated Meta’s rules.

例如，文件顯示，在 5 月份，Meta 員工在平台上違規行為激增的情況下抽樣了中國廣告。他們發現，僅在前一個月，就有 800 個廣告賬户產生了 2800 萬美元的違規廣告。

The samples, the May 2025 document states, included scams, “deceptive business practices,” and ads that violated Meta’s prohibitions against marketing for illegal online casinos, sexual content, weapons and animal abuse.

樣本中，2025 年 5 月的文件指出，包括詐騙、“欺騙性商業行為”，以及違反 Meta 禁止的非法在線賭場、性內容、武器和虐待動物的廣告。

More than 75% of the spending came from accounts enjoying Meta’s partner protections, the document shows. In response to that finding, one staffer asked colleagues if Meta intended to punish the big-spending Chinese advertising partners who controlled the accounts.

超過 75% 的支出來自享有 Meta 合作伙伴保護的賬户，文件顯示。對此發現，一名員工詢問同事，Meta 是否打算懲罰控制這些賬户的大額支出中國廣告合作伙伴。

No, another said, because “the revenue impact is too high.” Instead, Meta’s enforcement team proposed shutting down a small portion of the accounts that human reviews had found to be overwhelmingly running banned ads.

另一名員工表示不，因為 “收入影響太大”。相反，Meta 的執法團隊提議關閉一小部分人類審核發現主要投放禁用廣告的賬户。

Those accounts, according to the document, represented just $2.8 million of the harmful ads Meta was receiving from the accounts each month. Still, before shutting the accounts down, the safety staffers wanted to confirm that colleagues focusing on ad growth wouldn’t object, “given the revenue impact.”

根據文件，這些賬户每月僅佔 Meta 從這些賬户收到的有害廣告的 280 萬美元。儘管如此，在關閉賬户之前，安全工作人員希望確認專注於廣告增長的同事不會反對，“考慮到收入影響”。

The Meta spokesperson told Reuters the specific numbers cited in the document weren’t final and that enforcement resulted in many dozens of removed accounts. He didn’t provide new figures.

Meta 發言人告訴路透社，文件中引用的具體數字並非最終數字，執法導致許多賬户被移除。他沒有提供新的數字。

The closure of those accounts could help Meta address the current spike in fraud and banned ads, the document said, but it wasn’t likely to change any behavior long-term. Advertisers, it noted, could soon reroute their ads through accounts that Meta hadn’t shut down.

關閉這些賬户可能有助於 Meta 應對當前的欺詐和禁用廣告激增，文件中表示，但不太可能長期改變任何行為。廣告商指出，他們可能很快會通過 Meta 尚未關閉的賬户重新投放廣告。

“It’s likely the revenue will return,” the document concluded.

“收入可能會恢復，” 文件總結道。

Meta’s “trusted experts” helped me run scam ads on Facebook and Instagram here

Meta 的 “可信專家” 幫助我在 Facebook 和 Instagram 上投放詐騙廣告這裏

(Editing by Steve Stecklow and Paulo Prada.)

（編輯：Steve Stecklow 和 Paulo Prada。）

特別報道——Meta 為了保護數十億美元的收入而容忍來自中國的猖獗廣告欺詐