Over the last nine months, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has run dozens of paid ads that included explicit AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and images of minors alongside sexually suggestive statements, according to WIRED, citing details of the ads shared with the outlet. The ads, which in some cases reached several thousand accounts, were targeted at people living in the United States, the United Kingdom, and more than a dozen European countries.
Discovery in Meta's ad library
Researchers at the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) discovered more than 50 image and video ads containing abusive content in Meta's ad library, according to WIRED. Meta's ad library is a transparency tool that catalogues ads displayed on the company's platforms, and the listings showed the ads running across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and/or Threads. Some of the ads linked out to so-called nudify or undressing apps, WIRED reported. The findings are the second time in recent weeks that paid ads linked to child sexual abuse material have been found on Meta's platforms.
TTP director Katie Paul told WIRED:
"These ads made no effort to mask the images or hide what they were promoting. It's important to point out that this isn't content posted by third parties on Facebook or Instagram, these are ads that were reviewed, approved, and allowed to run by Meta, never encountering interference while the company collected the ad dollars."
What the ads showed
The ads discovered by the researchers were removed by Meta for violating its policies on child sexual abuse and exploitation material, and adult sexual solicitation and nudity, according to WIRED. They were all published between November last year and the start of August. According to data in Meta's ad transparency library, the ads often ran over a period of several days and some only targeted men.
One video ad used a thumbnail image of a child sitting on the floor with text on top saying: "Realizing Deep Fantasies with Generation AI [sic]. There is so much more than what is shown, use your imagination." When clicked, it played video clips of adults involved in sexual acts and then added the child's face from the thumbnail to a sex act, the TTP researchers told WIRED. Another repeatedly posted ad showed an image of a young girl laying back with her legs spread in a sexual position with the text "I can show you more."
Most of the ads were not actively being shown to users when the researchers found them, but they continued to be available, apparently undetected, in Meta's ad library for months, WIRED reported. Although many of the ads only reached a handful of accounts, at least one reached 2,563 accounts in Europe, including in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Meta's ad library database does not include details about ad performance in the US or all countries, so the overall reach may be higher, according to WIRED.
| Ad library detail | Finding |
|---|---|
| Ads discovered | More than 50 image and video ads |
| Publication period | November last year to the start of August |
| Targeted regions | United States, United Kingdom, more than a dozen European countries |
| Largest disclosed reach | 2,563 accounts in Europe |
| Platforms | Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads |
Reporting and Meta's response
Paul said TTP first discovered the ads last week while its researchers continued to investigate nudify app ads on Meta, after publishing a report about a Chinese advertising partner posting them. Paul said the organization immediately reported the findings to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline, which allows people to report online child sexual abuse material. A NCMEC spokesperson says it does not comment on reports it receives.
After WIRED reached out to Meta, the company removed the ads from its advertising library. A Meta spokesperson said: "Sexual exploitation is horrific, and we work aggressively to keep it off our platform." The spokesperson said the majority of the ads had minimal reach, many were disabled before WIRED shared them, and many of the ads predated new AI technology the company launched recently to better detect and block violating ads at upload.
For enterprise technology teams reviewing automated ad pipelines and AI-based content moderation tools, the case provides a documented example of ads that TTP says were reviewed, approved, and allowed to run by a major platform while linking to nudify apps and depicting abusive imagery. It also shows that listings can remain visible in a public ad library for months after publication, underscoring the difference between blocking content at upload and continuously auditing what has already been approved.
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