Research commissioned by Revolut estimates that social media platforms earned €32 million from serving scam advertisements to Irish users in 2025. Irish users are being shown an average of 164 fraudulent advertisements per month, with total views of such ads reaching six billion annually. The Central Bank has told the Oireachtas that 80 per cent of payment fraud now originates on social media. What is required is legislation that treats revenue derived from fraudulent ads as what it plainly is: proceeds of crime. Until the economics of fraud change, the fraud economy will continue to thrive.

Source: The Irish Times February 11, 2026 06:32 UTC