Thousands of Explicit AI “girlfriend” Ads Were Found on Meta Platforms

Meta has started pushing AI on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – so much so that you can’t turn off Meta AI. As it turns out, the tech giant’s own features aren’t the only AI spreading across Meta’s platforms. Explicit ads for AI “girlfriends” populate Facebook and Instagram. Wired reported.

Looking for Wired found that at least 29,000 ads for explicit AI “girlfriends” were published on meta-platforms, most of them with sex-related messages; At least 19,000 ads contain the term “NSFW” and 14,000 “NSFW AI”. Wired conducted searches on Meta’s ad library, which can display all ads currently available on its platforms; all advertisements placed in the EU in the last year; and ads from the last seven years related to elections, politics or social issues.

These explicit ads appear to violate Meta’s adult content advertising policy, which prohibits advertisers from running ads that “contain adult content, such as: B. Nudity and depictions of people in explicit or suggestive positions or activities that are excessively suggestive or sexually provocative.” Facebook and Instagram’s community guidelines prohibit nudity and anything the platform deems to be “offering sexual services.” These platforms also prohibit sexual language in cases of sexual solicitation (or perceived solicitation), even “typically sexual emojis.”

For years, sex workers — as well as sex educators, LGBTQ users, erotic artists, and the like — have claimed that Meta unfairly targets their content and accounts because of these policies. Such users have told Mashable that they are afraid of being targeted according to meta-community guidelines; Instagram Shadowbans Bans LGBTQ and Sex Ed Accounts; and that WhatsApp bans sex worker accounts. In an experiment conducted last fall by sex wellness brand Unbound, Meta repeatedly rejected ads for sex toys aimed at women while approving ads for sex toys aimed at men. Last November, Mashable reported that Meta allegedly rejected a period care ad because it was adult or political.

But these NSFW AI “girlfriend” ads seem to be catching on. WiredThe report is not the first time that ads for explicit AI apps have appeared on Meta: deepfake ads featuring Jenna Ortega and other celebrities have also appeared on Meta platforms.

When Wired contacted Meta about this, 2,700 AI ads for “girlfriends” were active. Meta spokesman Ryan Daniels said Wired that the company prohibits such ads, reviews them, and removes those that violate its policies. “When we identify infringing ads, we work quickly to remove them, as we do here,” he said Wired. “We continue to improve our systems, including how we detect ads and behavior that violate our policies.”

Still, the publication found that thousands of these ads were still active days later.

Mashable has reached out to Meta for comment.