NEW DELHI — Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms carried more than 300 paid advertisements featuring child sexual abuse material this year, including AI-manipulated images of real children, according to an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project.
The investigation found that many of the ads used photographs of real children taken from social media posts and websites and then altered with artificial intelligence to depict sexually explicit content.
In one case, a publicly released photograph of a minor member of a European royal family appeared in an ad on Facebook and Instagram after being digitally transformed into a sexually explicit video. The ad promoted a Chinese AI application and was reportedly targeted at adult men.
According to the Tech Transparency Project, the more than 300 advertisements identified in the investigation featured children ranging from toddlers and preteens to teenagers. Many followed a similar format, combining snippets of adult pornography with AI-manipulated images of children and using recurring captions, voiceovers and background music.
The group said it was able to identify several photographs of real children used in the ads, highlighting concerns that images shared publicly online can be repurposed into abusive material using generative AI tools.
The investigation also found that several of the advertisements were placed by Meta advertising partners in China, including a Chinese state-controlled company. Most of the ads directed users to China-developed AI applications, many of which offered or enabled so-called “nudification” tools that digitally remove clothing or generate sexually explicit versions of images.
Meta did not initially respond to the group’s request for comment. After the findings were shared with the company, however, Meta removed about 150 advertisements that were still available in its Ad Library, according to the investigation.
Meta also updated records for more than 100 ads that had already been removed, newly classifying them as violations of its child-exploitation policies. The Tech Transparency Project said those ads had previously been categorized under Meta’s adult-content policies without explicitly identifying the involvement of children.
The findings raised questions about whether Meta’s existing enforcement systems may be undercounting child sexual exploitation involving AI-generated or manipulated imagery.
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 ads identified in the investigation had already been removed and that Meta continues to strengthen its detection and enforcement systems. (Source: IANS)
