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.

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".

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