Compliance Theater
The scam looked ordinary.
Clean product photos. A countdown timer ticking toward "SOLD OUT." A price just believable enough to make you hurry. A cousin in Kuala Lumpur forwarded it to a family group chat with a single question: "Is this legit?"
It wasn't. By the time anyone replied, the money was gone.
In Singapore, the same week, a different ad wore the face of a government minister, borrowed without permission, promising an "approved" investment. In Vietnam, it was a livestream that felt like a storefront. The details change by country. The mechanism doesn't. The ad runs. The money moves. The report gets filed.
And the platform often behaves like it didn't hear you.
Malaysian officials say Meta ignored 96% of scam reports submitted through official channels. Singapore threatened fines and deadlines. Vietnam pushed takedown windows from 24 hours to 12 through intense government pressure.
Meta's public posture is compliance. Its internal posture, according to documents reviewed by Reuters, looks more like math: what's the minimum enforcement that preserves maximum revenue?