I did some SEO for a local landscape company. They were already doing well, but asked me about doing ads on FB. I told them I thought it was a scam, but they persisted so I ran a few campaigns for irrigation in the Spring and then fall cleanup starting in August.
Same thing happened. They got a ton of impressions and clicks (no surprise) and a about a dozen leads. When they went through them, nearly all were for fake numbers (no answer and no VM) or email addresses that bounced. They ended up with one lead for a service they don't even make any money on.
In the end, they lost a few hundred dollars, but it was enough to convince them running FB ads to generate business was not only a good idea, but it convinced them it was rigged and a scam.
Surely FB employees aren't managing those bot accounts themselves. Do they generally determine accounts that engage with ads to be "human/real", thereby incentivizing bad actors who spin up fake FB accounts to click/"like" ads?
Why not? It's not like Facebook employees have a track record as paragons of virtue.
If there are managers incentivized to meet click targets, it could even happen informally. Like the Wells Fargo account-opening scandal.
Clearly you would want to optimise the rates ;)
I've done some FB advertising for news type content (much easier to target properly) and was getting incredible value for the money. Usually it's pretty obvious real fast if you're getting real action or not and you can adjust accordingly.
They're probably no more effective than billboards, or something though. That may be different with everyone stuck at home!