According to CBS News, there is a large number of advertisements promoting “Deep Fake (Deepfake means using AI technology to distort or falsify a person’s image, audio or video to distort or falsify a person’s failure to do something)” on the social platform of Meta. These advertisements, which promote the “removal” of clothing from photographs by AI technology, generate naked images, which raises serious moral and legal concerns.
The survey revealed that dozens of advertisements promoted so-called “Nudify” applications on Instagram and Facebook, claiming that users simply had to upload photographs to generate a vehemently naked image. These advertisements are usually presented in titles and images that attract eyeballs, such as “Destroying clothing in seconds” or “Exploring the power of AI”, targeting mostly young male users.
Meta ads provide growing soil.
CBS News has identified at least 50 such advertisements, some of which are linked to external websites and induce users to download a fee-paying application or subscription service at a single cost of up to $10, with monthly subscriptions ranging from $20 to $50. At least hundreds of such advertisements are available in Meta ‘ s social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Facebook Messenberger applications and Meta ‘ s audience network, which allows Meta ‘ s advertisers to reach users of their collaborative mobile applications and websites.
In an e-mail sent to CBS News, a spokesman for Meta stated: “We have strict provisions prohibiting the involuntary publication of private images; we have removed these advertisements, removed the home page responsible for the placement of these advertisements and permanently blocked the URL link related to these applications.”Despite Meta ‘ s commitment to combating illegal content, these advertisements continued to appear on their platforms in 2024 and early 2025, exposing loopholes in the advertising audit mechanism.
According to Meta’s own advertising bank data, many of these advertisements are targeted at men between the ages of 18 and 65 and are active in the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom. A spokesperson for Meta told CBS that the dissemination of such AI-generated content was a persistent problem and that they faced increasingly complex challenges in their efforts to combat it. “The people behind these exploitative applications are constantly updating their tactics to avoid detection, and we are therefore continuing our efforts to strengthen law enforcement”, said the speaker.
Audit gaps under legal policy
The dissemination of the “Nudify” tool has given rise to widespread controversy. Many states in the United States have passed laws prohibiting the production or dissemination of deeply forged pornographic material without consent, and offenders may face criminal charges. In 2024, the Federal Government strengthened the regulation of AI-generated content, and platforms such as Meta were asked to strengthen the screening of illegal advertising.
Last month, the United States Government introduced the Offence Act, requiring websites and social media companies to remove deep-false content within 48 hours of receiving victim notification. Although the law makes it illegal to “dispatch knowingly” or threaten to publish intimacy images without their consent (including the deep forgery created by AI), it does not target the instrument itself used to produce such AI-generated content.
Meta’s advertising policy states: “Observations shall not include adult nudity and sexual activity. This includes images of nudity, depiction of a person’s face or sexual insinuation, or sexual insinuation.” Under Meta’s “bullying and harassing” policy, the company also prohibited “derogatory PS pictures or paintings” on its platform. It stated that its provisions were designed to prevent users from sharing or threatening to share involuntary intimate images.
Alexios Mantzarlis, Director of the Security, Trust and Security Initiative at the Center for Scientific and Technological Research at Cornell University, United States, has studied the phenomenon of deep forgery of online marketing on social media platforms for over a year. He said he had seen thousands of such advertisements on platforms such as Meta and X (former Twitter) and Telegram.
Manzaris considered that Telegram and X had structural “no law” and thus allowed such elements to exist. But Meta, a company with a critical vetting body, may lack the will of its management to resolve the problem. “I think that the trust and security of these companies are well known. Frankly, in Meta’s case, the top of its company may not be concerned, and it is clear that they have not given sufficient financial support to the vetting team to combat such content.”
In his research, Manzaris also found that such “striking” generators were available for download at Apple and Google Applications, and he was dismayed at the level of regulation of these large platforms. “The problem with applications is that they have this dual-use disguise, which is an interesting face change at the app store, but that their main marketing purpose on the Meta platform is to strip. Therefore, when these applications are examined in apples or Google stores, there is not necessarily sufficient reason for the party to ban them.”
DeepfakeHidden social and moral problems
The data show that a high percentage of adolescents have been exposed to a high degree of forgery. A study carried out in March 2025 by Thorn, a non-profit organization for the protection of children, revealed that 41 per cent of adolescents indicated that they had heard of the term “deepfake nakeds”, while 10 per cent reported that they personally knew someone who had been the victim of a deep forgery of naked images. Experts warned that the lack of age certification and supervision of such tools could lead to serious psychological and social harm, especially for women and minors, and contribute to sexual violence and cyber-harasssment.
The abuse of in-depth counterfeiting technologies has become an important issue for the AI industry. In 2024, similar events raised concerns on the TikTok and X platforms and prompted the Platform to enhance its content review. Meta ‘ s advertising revenues, which in 2024 represented 98 per cent of its total revenue, amounted to $135 billion, and the omission of advertising clearances could undermine its brand credibility. In the context of the recent dispute over OpenAI ‘ s data privacy litigation, the ethical application of AI technology is becoming an industry focus.
