Social media platforms and the stream of content creators and product advertisements are creating a quieter, but growing problem on the advertising side — misleading and even fake ads. 

Wizz App, a social media chatting platform designed for Gen Z users, operates without any vanity metrics such as "likes" or "followers." Wizz experts analyzed more than 4 billion ads over the past year across its entire advertising stack and say it blocked 1.7 million potentially unsafe ads before they reached users.

What You Need To Know

• The FTC says Americans have lost a record $2.1 billion in social media scams in 2025

• Wizz says more social media platforms need to enforce stricter ad guidelines to prevent harmful ads from reaching users

• The FTC says Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were the most common platforms for social media ad scams in 2025

Alexandra Ryabova, Wizz's COO, says many social media platforms and the ad networks they use often have inconsistent enforcement that creates gaps where deceptive, inappropriate and even harmful ads slip through. The Federal Trade Commission says that Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram were the most common platforms for these scams, with Facebook responsible for the highest losses.

"A lot of times platforms sign contracts with big companies of advertising and are receiving advertising from companies they don't actually know, and they do not pass the guidelines too, and the companies do not know the users' age or who the users are, and therefore some of the companies are receiving deceptive ads," Ryabova said. "I think we live in a world where we do not even know if something is being sold to us."

Wizz teamed up with AppHarbr, an ad security company, to help it flag and block potentially unsafe ads around things like gambling, sexual content, drug-related material and hate speech. She believes the industry needs more content oversight with ad partners to better protect consumers.

"You want to be a platform that does its absolute best for the safety and for the well-being of its users," Ryabova said. "I also think that it is important that the users are also being aware of the harm that can happen."

Here are some tips to avoid unwanted ads or getting tricked. Assume any ad could be misleading and then verify before you click, buy or sign up. Avoid panic deals and "limited time" only discounts. Look at the comment section because that is where you will often see complaints and be sure to double check the advertiser.

According to the most recent FTC data, Americans lost a record $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025.