Meta Faces Explosive Allegations: Former Employee Claims Company Misled Advertisers

Whistleblower drops bombshell on social media giant's advertising practices

The Accusation

A former Meta insider just pulled back the curtain—claiming the company systematically deceived advertisers about campaign performance metrics. The allegations suggest inflated reach numbers and engagement metrics that never matched reality.

Advertising Fallout

Brands poured billions into Meta's platforms based on what now appear to be questionable metrics. Another reminder that when something seems too good to be true in digital advertising—especially from a company that treats user data like its own personal goldmine—it usually is.

Corporate Response

Meta's PR team shifted into damage control mode, dismissing the claims as 'disgruntled former employee rhetoric.' Meanwhile, advertising departments across Fortune 500 companies are suddenly reviewing their Q3 spend reports with renewed skepticism.

Just another day in the world of big tech—where the only thing more optimized than the algorithms are the excuses when they get caught.

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Purkayastha also alleges that Meta tracked users’ online activity without their permission, even after Apple introduced new privacy measures in 2021 that required explicit consent. He says that Meta secretly connected user data to monitor behavior across websites, thereby violating Apple’s App Tracking Transparency policy. Purkayastha filed these claims with the Central London Employment Tribunal, stating that he was fired in February after raising these concerns. Interestingly, a judge said that his case could have merit, but declined to let him keep his job during the process. A full hearing is expected later.

In addition to the tracking and data inflation claims, Purkayastha says Meta failed to tell advertisers that Shops Ads were heavily subsidized. He claims CEO Mark Zuckerberg approved $160 million for free ad placements during testing, which made results seem better than they were. Meta responded by saying there was no intent to retaliate and that the concerns were normal business issues, not evidence of illegal behavior. The company also said that the subsidies were publicly mentioned and known within Meta.

Is Meta a Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on META stock based on 42 Buys, five Holds, and zero Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average META price target of $872.68 per share implies 18.4% upside potential.