According to a new FTC report, consumers lost over $2.1 billion to social media scams in 2025 - the highest of any contact method scammers use.
Even more concerning -
- Nearly 30% of scam victims said it started on social platforms
- Losses from these scams have grown ~8x since 2020
- In many cases, social media outperformed email and SMS scams combined in losses
This doesn’t feel like a cybersecurity problem but a system design problem.
We have essentially built platforms that -
- Optimize for engagement and reach
- Lower friction for strangers to contact you
- Blur the line between ads, content, and people
…and now AI is making scams more personalized and scalable.
So here’s the real question for the future:
Are we going to keep pushing user awareness as the solution, or do platforms need to change into something more like financial systems with accountability?
Because at this scale, it’s not just hackers but an environment that enables them.
What do we think - is this fixable with better tech (AI detection, identity verification), or does the entire social media model need rethinking?
