Unfortunately I beg to differ. I worked for several companies where we the management clearly saw that the results were very poor (for Facebook ads, for example) but continued to invest because there is a defined budget for it and so on. It was like this last year and 20 years ago.

Yes, most fraud is inside the corporate structure. Not shady "hacker" types in Romania.

these companies should be outcompeted by firms that don't blow a million dollars a month paying out to click fraudsters but alas the market is not perfectly competitive

is it a cargo cult? it works for coca cola so maybe if we just spend a little more we'll see returns...

Yes, I feel it might be cargo cult, at least in part. The argument I usually heard was that "But other companies are doing that, too".