Meta Ran Ads for an App That Promised to Nudify Female Politicians

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, ran advertisements for an application named Kromix. This tool claimed to be an "AI image styler" with no restrictions, stating "all the characters are real people" and being "the AI that men actually use." One ad featured a woman resembling a prominent female US politician in front of US flags, posing and transitioning to a pornographic video.

Kromix was previously hosted on Apple's App Store but was removed following a request for comment from WIRED. Apple has been grappling with similar tools that breach its policies on nonconsensual intimate imagery, nudifying, and sexually explicit content. San Francisco's city attorney had previously requested the removal of 13 such apps and the cessation of facilitating sales of explicit deepfake images.

Meta's ad library indicated that the ads targeted male users, with a tagline "Unleash Next-gen AI Magic," and were taken down after WIRED inquired about them. The account responsible for the campaign ran 32 ads, each lasting between five and 46 hours, with most receiving 10 or fewer impressions. Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, expressed concerns that Meta's handling of the nudify issue involves sexualizing and nudifying women into AI-generated porn.

Politicians and elected officials, predominantly women, have been frequent targets of nonconsensual deepfake images and videos. The proliferation of AI-generated content has led to the use of benign media, such as official portraits and press conferences, as raw material for harmful deepfake technology, according to Benjamin Shultz, a lead researcher at the American Sunlight Project.

Despite Meta's ad review system, which primarily relies on automated tools to check ads against its policies, numerous instances of sexual imagery containing nudify or AI kissing apps have evaded detection. Meta has, however, removed over 340,000 violating ads for nudify apps in the past year and taken legal action against developers.

The company emphasizes its commitment to combating sexual exploitation and improving its defenses against bad actors who constantly evolve their tactics.