Scam Ads Are Flooding Social Media. These Former Meta Staffers Have a Plan

8 hours ago7 min read

In a move that feels both deeply ironic and entirely necessary, two former Meta insiders, Rob Leathern and Rob Goldman, are stepping back into the fray to tackle one of the platform's most persistent and embarrassing failures: the deluge of scam advertisements flooding its social media ecosystems. This isn't just a story about two guys with a gripe; it's a fundamental challenge to the opaque, black-box algorithms that have come to define our digital public squares, where accountability is often sacrificed at the altar of scale and engagement.Leathern and Goldman, who between them have deep institutional knowledge from their time working on Meta's ads business and its core integrity teams, are launching a nonprofit aimed at injecting a dose of radical transparency into a system that has become a playground for bad actors. Think about the last time you saw an ad for a 'miracle' weight loss supplement, a 'get-rich-quick' crypto scheme, or a fake celebrity endorsement—chances are, it slipped through the cracks of an automated review system that prioritizes speed over safety.The duo's plan, while still in its formative stages, reportedly involves developing open-source tools and standards that could allow third-party watchdogs, academic researchers, and perhaps even everyday users to better audit and understand why certain ads are shown and how they evade detection. This is a direct shot across the bow of the entire digital advertising industrial complex, which has long operated on the principle that the inner workings of its targeting and delivery systems are proprietary crown jewels, too valuable and complex to be exposed to public scrutiny.The historical precedent here is stark; we've seen this movie before with the spread of misinformation and political manipulation on these very platforms, where external pressure eventually forced some concessions, but never a full, systemic overhaul. The potential consequences of their success—or failure—are monumental.If they can create a viable model for external oversight, it could force a new era of corporate accountability, potentially leading to stricter regulations in the U. S.and the European Union, which has already been aggressive with laws like the Digital Services Act. Conversely, if their nonprofit struggles to gain traction or is ignored by the industry titans, it will serve as a grim confirmation that the power imbalance between platform and user is too entrenched to overcome.This initiative raises profound questions about the very architecture of our online lives: Can we truly have a healthy digital society when the mechanisms that shape public discourse are designed to be inscrutable? The journey of Leathern and Goldman from architects of this system to its external reformers is a narrative ripe with the kind of philosophical tension that defines our technological moment, a classic tale of poachers turning gamekeepers in a landscape they know all too well. Their success will depend not just on their technical acumen, but on their ability to build a coalition that includes regulators, ethically-minded advertisers, and a public increasingly weary of being treated as the product in a marketplace rife with fraud.

#featured

#social media

#scam ads

#transparency

#nonprofit

#Meta alumni

#Rob Leathern

#Rob Goldman

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