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San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu has demanded that Meta stop allowing paid advertisements promoting AI tools linked to child sexual abuse material and explain how the ads repeatedly bypassed the company’s moderation systems.
WIRED reported that Meta ran more than 350 ads in recent months featuring AI-generated videos depicting the sexual exploitation of minors. Researchers said some source images appeared to show real individuals, including members of European royal families. The ads promoted AI image and video-generation applications that could also be used to digitally undress people or create non-consensual intimate images.
The ads were identified by researchers at the Technology Transparency Project (TTP). The same advertisement was uploaded multiple times and reached more than 29,000 accounts in European Union countries. Similar ads appeared on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, targeting users in the United States, Australia, and India.
WIRED initially reported on 53 ads in August. Since then, researchers have identified more than 250 additional ads on Meta’s platforms.
“Meta is profiting from sexually explicit, AI-generated ads involving children and yet fails to address known issues,” San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement to WIRED. “These ads are deeply disturbing and cause harm to real children. While Meta says it has zero tolerance for child exploitation, the scale and persistence of these problems suggest that its current safeguards are woefully inadequate.”
Chiu also questioned how Meta’s advertising review process allowed the campaigns to run after advertisers paid for their distribution. In a four-page letter, his office asked Meta’s legal, child-safety, and advertising representatives to participate in prompt discussions with city officials.
The letter argues that the repeated appearance of the ads does not appear to be an isolated moderation failure. It calls on Meta to explain how the advertisements bypassed its safety systems, how the company escalated the incidents, and whether it reported the material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Meta said there was “no indication” that the ads were shown in San Francisco, arguing that the matter falls outside the city attorney’s jurisdiction. However, the Meta Ad Library provides information about advertisements published in the United States but does not identify where within the country each ad was displayed.
Meta previously told WIRED that many of the ads identified by TTP had already been removed before researchers reported them. The company said all of the identified ads have since been removed for policy violations, with most receiving fewer than 200 impressions. Meta also said the combined spending on more than 300 ads was less than $5,000.
The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office is seeking details about Meta’s enforcement actions, including how the company plans to address advertisers and repeat offenders linked to AI-generated child sexual abuse material. The office also asked Meta to explain how it will prevent similar advertisements from appearing across Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and other company platforms.
Source: www.wired.com