Ads on Facebook, Instagram for explicit 'AI girlfriends' prompt Meta crackdown

The discovery of tens of thousands of racy advertisements for artificial intelligence-generated "girlfriends" across Meta apps prompted the social media giant to scrub its platforms of the explicit content in recent days.

An investigation by Wired published last week found more than 29,000 instances in Meta's ad library of ads for "AI girlfriend" apps on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. The ads were for chatbots that engage in sexually explicit messaging and feature AI-generated images of scantily-clad women in suggestive positions.

The report said more than half the ads included the acronym "NSFW," which means "not safe for work," warning people that it is not suitable to view the content while at a place of employment.

Wired said the ads appear to violate Meta's policies prohibiting adult content, and said around 2,700 of the ads were active when it contacted Meta about the issue the week prior.

"When we identify violating ads we work quickly to remove them, as we’re doing here," Meta spokesperson Ryan Daniels told the outlet. "We continue to improve our systems, including how we detect ads and behavior that go against our policies."

Daniels supplied the same statement Wednesday when contacted by FOX Business, and added that Meta reviewed the ads and is removing them for violating its adult content ads policy.

Meta prohibits ads containing adult content, including "nudity, depictions of people in explicit or suggestive positions, or activities that are overly suggestive or sexually provocative."

The Meta spokesperson also said the company often sees instances of groups or individuals employing new tactics to avoid detection and evade its policies and enforcement, which is why they are constantly evaluating and updating their approach.