Meta ran 300+ ads featuring AI-generated child sexual abuse material, investigation finds

New Delhi: Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms carried more than 300 paid advertisements featuring child sexual abuse material (CSAM) this year, including AI-manipulated images of real children, according to an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP).

The investigation found that many of the advertisements used photographs of real children that had been taken from social media posts and websites. The images were subsequently manipulated using artificial intelligence to make it appear as though the children were involved in explicit sexual acts.

In one particularly disturbing case, a photograph of a minor member of a European royal family that had been publicly released last year appeared in an advertisement on Facebook and Instagram. The image was digitally transformed into a video depicting the child performing a graphic sex act. The advertisement promoted a Chinese AI application and was reportedly targeted at adult male users.

According to TTP, the more than 300 advertisements identified in its investigation featured children ranging from toddlers and preteens to young teenagers. Most followed a similar format, beginning with a snippet of adult pornography before showing an image of a child that had been manipulated with AI. The advertisements also appeared to use recurring captions, voiceovers and background music.

TTP said it was able to identify multiple photographs of actual children used in the advertisements, raising concerns that images publicly shared online can be appropriated and transformed into abusive material using generative AI tools.

The investigation also found that several of the advertisements had been placed by Meta’s advertising partners in China, including a Chinese state-controlled company. The vast majority of the ads directed users toward AI applications developed in China, with many of the apps offering or enabling so-called “nudification” capabilities that digitally remove clothing or create sexually explicit versions of images.

Meta did not initially respond to TTP’s request for comment. However, after the organisation shared its findings with the company, Meta carried out a rapid cleanup of its advertising ecosystem. About 150 advertisements that were still available in Meta’s Ad Library were removed, according to TTP.

Meta also updated records for more than 100 advertisements that had already been taken down, newly classifying them as violations of its child-exploitation policies. TTP said those advertisements had previously been categorised under Meta’s adult-oriented policies without explicitly identifying the involvement of children.

The discrepancy has raised questions over whether Meta’s existing systems may be undercounting cases involving child sexual exploitation, particularly when AI-generated or manipulated imagery is involved.

A Meta spokesperson said the company does not tolerate “nudify apps or any kind of child exploitation, whether real or AI-generated.” The spokesperson added that many of the advertisements identified by the investigation had already been removed and that Meta continues to strengthen its detection and enforcement systems.

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