Meta ads pushed AI 'nudify' apps using real children's photos, report finds
Meta took days to remove ads with AI-generated CSAM on Facebook and Instagram, some using real kids' images, per Tech Transparency Project.
TTP reported that Meta failed to detect 332 ads containing CSAM this year. The vast majority of the ads promoted AI apps made in China, while many promoted so-called “nudify” apps that allow bad actors to use AI to digitally alter images of children. TTP said it matched multiple CSAM ads to photos of real children that appeared online.
The ads appear to violate federal child pornography laws, as the Justice Department has clarified that AI-generated CSAM is just as harmful as traditional CSAM. TTP found that the young royal’s image was animated into a video of her performing a graphic sex act. Other ads animated a photo of a 14-year-old Instagram influencer showing off her new sports club uniform into a video of her performing oral sex. A third victim, described as a preteen posing in a pink athletic outfit with pigtails in a series of stock photos, was morphed into a video where she looks frightened as she is molested by an adult male.
Meta has not yet publicly commented on the findings. The company previously said it uses automated tools and human reviewers to remove content that violates its policies on child sexual exploitation, but the investigation indicates such measures failed repeatedly over the course of the year.