• by Laurie Sullivan , 3 hours ago

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in Sweden at a recent board meeting moved to exclude Meta as a member of IAB Sweden. The board claimed during a meeting that Meta is not doing enough to prevent fraudulent ads.

“IAB Sweden will continue to push for improvements to the advertising environment and continue to work for good marketing practices,” Daniel Weilar, chairman of IAB Sweden, wrote in a blog post transcribed from Swedish to English. “Meta will now need to present evidence to re-enter as a member.”

The decision replaces an earlier vote from March 10, which was later declared invalid due to a procedural error.

At that board meeting in March, the IAB Sweden board voted to allow Meta to continue as a member, on the condition that they were not given a board seat. After it was determined that the board could not create such a condition, the board called another meeting where the new decision was made.

Meta will have the opportunity to appeal the board's decision to IAB Sweden's annual general meeting on April 15.

Publishing companies on IAB Sweden's board have reportedly been working to stop the misuse of media brands and public figures' identities in fake ads on Meta's platforms.

Bonnier News and Schibsted are two major media companies in the Nordics. Both initiated the exclusion case against Meta, which Aller Media later supported.

The companies cited Meta over insufficient anti-fraud measures and warned advertisers of potential brand-safety risks that could cause a shift in budgets toward certified platforms.

The move highlights the need for increased protection against scams for consumers, and sets standards for other European bodies to demand higher advertising standards from major tech platforms.

MediaPost reached out to Meta Platforms and IAB in the U.S. for comment. It does not appear that Meta Platforms has made a direct public statement on IAB Sweden's vote, although it has made several claims regarding the underlying fraud allegations, as well as comments based on a Reuters investigation published in November 2025.

Reuters reported on leaked internal Meta documents that detailed the company's internal projections and the scale of scam ads across its platforms.

“Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10% of its overall annual revenue, $16 billion, from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show,” Reuters reported in November 2025.

Meta users also faced an estimated 22 billion organic scam attempts each day since December 2024, including fake classified listings on the Facebook Marketplace, dating profiles, and more related to health descriptions and products.