Meta Ran Ads for AI App Promising to Nudify Female Politicians, Apple Pulls Kromix from App Store

Meta Ran Ads for an App That Promised to Nudify Female Politicians

Meta platforms recently ran ads for an AI porn-generation tool that seemingly encouraged users to create deepfaked videos resembling female US politicians, despite the company's policies against ads containing sexual material. It's the latest in a series of failures by Meta to keep advertisements for tools that produce nonconsensual intimate imagery off its platforms. The tool, which is called Kromix, bills itself as an "AI image styler." A voice-over for one of the video advertisements, viewed by WIRED, promotes the tool as having "no restrictions," saying "all the characters are real people" and describing it as "the AI that men actually use." In one ad, a woman closely resembling a prominent female US politician is seen in front of a US flag and the flag of the president of the US above the caption "What if she moved?" She then winks, before the ad cuts to a scene of a woman with the same face performing in a pornographic video. The Kromix app, which was hosted by Apple's App Store prior to a request for comment from WIRED, invites paid users to upload photos so that it can use them in scenarios including "bedroom rape" and "Disney love." Videos on the app also feature AI-generated pornographic videos of women wearing Spider-Man costumes. Requests for comment sent to a contact listed in the app went unanswered. Apple has struggled to keep similar tools, which violate its policies against nonconsensual intimate imagery, nudifying, and sexually explicit content, off the App Store. San Francisco's city attorney sent the company a cease-and-desist letter earlier this summer demanding the removal of 13 specific apps and that it stop "aiding and abetting" the sale of explicit deepfake images. The ads were, according to Meta's ad library, exclusively targeted to male users with the tagline "Unleash Next-gen AI Magic" and were removed after WIRED asked about them. In all, the account tied to the campaign ran 32 ads, according to Meta, which ran for between five and 46 hours. Most received 10 or fewer impressions. Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, which discovered the ads, says, "All of the ads that we've seen so far broadly on the nudify issue are exclusively sexualizing and nudifying and putting women into AI-generated porn. And this raises a lot of questions about how Meta is going to deal with this kind of content, not just broadly but when it comes to female politicians, when the company is actively running ads containing this content on their platform." Politicians and elected officials, overwhelmingly women, have been a target of nonconsensual deepfake images and videos for years. In January, as Grok was used to create around 3 million sexualized images of women and girls, officials in Sweden, England, and Northern Ireland were targeted by people using the technology, often using official images as a starting point. "As the production and distribution of AI-generated content have democratized, formerly benign media -- official portraits, video from a press conference -- have become raw material for low- and no-code tools that anyone with an internet connection can use," says Benjamin Shultz, the lead researcher at the American Sunlight Project, who is investigating how the ecosystem of harmful deepfake technology is used to target politicians. According to the company's public documentation, before an ad is published on Meta's platforms, which includes Instagram and Facebook, each ad is "reviewed" against its policies that detail what advertisers can and can't post. "Our ad review system relies primarily on automated tools to check ads and business assets against our policies," the company's advertising standards say, pointing out that the review starts before ads begin running. The page running the advertisements was created on August 3, not long before the ads began running, and had no followers -- two things that might have indicated to Meta that the account was suspicious. The company specifically has a policy that says ads cannot contain sexual imagery -- including nudity, sexual activity, or sexually suggestive content. Meta's broader policies on adult sexual exploitation say that nonconsensual intimate imagery is not permitted and the promotion of "nudify" or "AI kissing" apps are not allowed. However, ads for nudify or undressing apps have been appearing on Meta's platforms frequently over the past few years, with researchers finding thousands the company had failed to detect -- by the company's own count, it also removed 344,000 ads on Facebook and Instagram that were promoting the services between November last year and January and has filed a lawsuit against at least one firm promoting nudify services. "Sexual exploitation, including promoting nudify apps, is horrific, and we work aggressively to fight it," says Cindy Southworth, head of women's safety at Meta. "This is a highly adversarial space where bad actors constantly evolve their tactics, which is why we're continually strengthening our defenses: removing over 340,000 violating ads for nudify apps late last year alone, launching new AI technology to better detect and block new violating ads, and taking legal action against nudify app developers." Southworth says that Meta shares the information of apps and developers that it removes from its platform with other tech companies as well. Most of the video ads had a cover photo of something like a beach, mountains, or a waterfall, disguising the fact that the rest of the content was pornographic. "This is an example of an adversarial tactic these advertisers use to try and evade detection. We're aware of this tactic and block and remove many violating ads despite them trying to obscure violating content with a benign image," says Southworth. "That said, no system is perfect, and we're continuing to investigate why these ads were able to bypass our systems and how we can improve." An Apple spokesperson told WIRED that the company has removed Kromix -- which, they said, appeared to have added prohibited content and features after initial review -- from the App Store. "We have always strictly prohibited apps designed to generate, distribute, or consume pornography," they said. "'Nudification' apps are against our App Review Guidelines and we aggressively work to identify and remove apps -- as well as the developer accounts behind them -- that attempt to evade our processes and policies." Recently, WIRED reported how the Tech Transparency Project researchers had stumbled across more than 50 ads on Meta's platforms that contained AI child sexual abuse material and images of minors alongside sexually suggestive statements. Some of these included "face-swapping" a child into a video where they were performing a sexual act. The ads, which ran between November 2025 and August, sometimes reached thousands of people, including those in the US, UK, and across at least a dozen European countries. After WIRED contacted Meta about the ads last week, the company removed them from its ad library and replaced them with messages that they had been taken down for violating company policies on child sexual abuse and exploitation material, and adult sexual solicitation and nudity. Some of the ads were published after Meta told WIRED it had introduced new AI technology to "better detect and block violating ads at upload." Several of the ads linked to an app called MaskAI that appeared in the App Store; like Kromix, it included tools allowing users to upload images and face-swap people into sexual situations. The app was removed from the App Store after WIRED contacted Apple for comment; an email address linked to the app did not respond to a request for comment. Paul says that Meta has increasingly relied on AI to flag and vet advertisements, while laying off human moderators. "Ads are Meta's primary product, and there appears to be zero quality control," she says. "Meta is also making a lot of statements publicly, banking on their AI and the sophistication of it, while simultaneously saying they use AI to review their ad library and nothing's perfect." Additional reporting by Tim Marchman.

Apple pulls AI 'nudify' app promoted in Meta ads

WIRED reports that Meta ran ads for a now-pulled App Store app that let users create AI-generated pornographic deepfakes of real people, with one of the ads featuring a woman resembling a prominent US politician. Here are the details. Apple says app added prohibited features after review According to WIRED, Meta ran a campaign for an app that promoted itself as "the AI that men actually use," and in one of the ads showed an AI-generated pornographic deepfake of a woman closely resembling a prominent female US politician. From WIRED: The tool, which is called Kromix, bills itself as an "AI image styler." A voice-over for one of the video advertisements, viewed by WIRED, promotes the tool as having "no restrictions," saying "all the characters are real people" and describing it as "the AI that men actually use." In one ad, a woman closely resembling a prominent female US politician is seen in front of a US flag and the flag of the president of the US above the caption "What if she moved?" She then winks, before the ad cuts to a scene of a woman with the same face performing in a pornographic video. The report notes that both companies took action after WIRED reached out for comment: Apple removed the app from the App Store, while Meta took down the campaign, which had run 32 ads exclusively targeted at male users. In its reply to WIRED, Apple stressed that Kromix appeared to have added the prohibited content and features after passing the App Store's initial review. The company also said: "We have always strictly prohibited apps designed to generate, distribute, or consume pornography. [...] 'Nudification' apps are against our App Review Guidelines and we aggressively work to identify and remove apps -- as well as the developer accounts behind them -- that attempt to evade our processes and policies." Apple's points are similar to the comments it offered just last month, when San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu demanded that the company remove eight "nudify" apps from the App Store. Back to WIRED's report, it notes that Kromix isn't the only app of this kind that Apple has recently removed after being contacted by the publication. In a separate investigation, WIRED found that several problematic ads on Meta linked to MaskAI, an App Store app that similarly allowed users to upload photos and face-swap people into sexual situations. Apple also removed that app after WIRED reached out for comment. To read WIRED's full report, follow this link. Worth checking out on Amazon

Meta under fire after AI ads appeared to promote sexual deepfakes of US politicians: Report

The incident raises concerns about Meta's ad screening systems. Meta is yet again under scrutiny as the company ran ads for an AI tool which appeared to promote sexual deepfakes of female US politicians. According to a recent report, users on Meta were displayed ads where one video showed a woman resembling a prominent female politician before cutting to pornographic footage. While Meta platforms have rules banning sexual content and nonconsensual intimate imagery, the ads were reportedly seen across Meta platforms and appeared to be targeted specifically toward male users. The campaign, tied to an app called Kromix, ran for a short period before being pulled. This is not the first time, as Meta has faced repeated criticism in recent months for failing to catch similar ads promoting nonconsensual explicit content, including some involving minors, raising fresh questions about the effectiveness of its automated ad review systems. The issue was first noticed by Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project. She says that the ads they found were mainly about sexualising women and using AI to create fake pornographic images of them. According to the report by Wired, 32 ads linked to the Kromix campaign were found through Meta's ad library. Kromix was marketed as an AI image styling service, but its advertisements suggested users could create explicit videos featuring real people. The ads ran for periods ranging from five to 46 hours, with most receiving 10 or fewer impressions. Also read: This country is giving every citizen Rs 30,000 as AI drives its economy The cover images of the ads often showed harmless scenes such as beaches, mountains and waterfalls, while the videos contained sexual material. The campaign reportedly used the tagline 'Unleash Next-Gen AI Magic' and promoted Kromix as an AI tool with 'no restrictions'. Researchers said the advertisements appeared designed to avoid detection by automated systems. The app was available to download via Apple's App Store. However, it was later removed as the Cupertino giant stated that it appeared to have added prohibited features after its initial review. Not only that but the company also added that apps created to generate, distribute or consume pornography are not allowed under its rules. Also read: Did ChatGPT learn to swear? Users report a sudden rise in F-bombs The app reportedly allowed users to upload photographs and place people into scenarios including sexual situations. Its content also included AI-generated pornographic videos. Meta said sexual exploitation and the promotion of nudie apps are prohibited on its platforms. Moreover, it added that it removed more than 340,000 ads promoting nudify services between November and January and is using new AI systems to detect such advertisements.