Watchdog bans ‘nudify’ ads on Meta over sex abuse concerns

Watchdog bans ‘nudify’ ads on Meta over sex abuse concerns The Advertising Standards Agency said the adverts ‘condoned and encouraged’ the creation of illegal sexually explicit deepfakes - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned a series of adverts for “nudify” AI apps which appeared on Meta platforms over sex abuse concerns. Paid adverts on Meta’s apps featured “irresponsible” childlike depictions of women in sexually suggestive positions and revealing clothing, that “encouraged viewers to view their bodies as sexual objects,” according to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA). It added some of the adverts “condoned and encouraged digitally manipulating women’s images to create sexually explicit content without their consent”. It is understood to be the first time the ASA has banned adverts for “nudify” and AI companion apps on social media, and follows warnings from the Joint Committee on Human Rights earlier this week of the risks to women and girls posed by AI. Meta, which owns Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram, said all of the adverts were removed before they were reported to them, and said its policies prohibit the promotion of nudify apps or similar services. It added that between November 2025 and January 2026, the company removed more than 344,000 ads on Facebook and Instagram that attempted to promote nudify apps. The creation of sexually explicit deepfakes has been outlawed in the UK since Elon Musk’s Grok AI tool was reportedly used to “digitally strip” victims of their clothes earlier this year. Labour MP Jess Asato, who had sexualised deepfake images made of her and shared widely online, is now suing xAI for damages. But at least four of the five adverts boasted the ability to let users upload their own photos to create AI-generated sexualised imagery of women. One advert depicted a woman with “youthful facial features” wearing nightwear that had “Daddy’s girl” on it whilst sitting in a child’s bed with a night light and teddy bear. The ASA said the advert “depicted a person who appeared to be under 18 years of age in a sexualised way”. The agency said the “offensive” adverts were detected by its own AI-powered ad monitoring system and form part of a wider project looking at ads for AI products across a number of sectors. Nicky Baker, regulatory projects manager at the ASA said: “We take a firm line on ads that are likely to cause serious or widespread offence and these ads are a clear example of why that matters. Encouraging and condoning the objectification of women and the creation of explicit content from people’s images has the potential to cause real-world harm. “That’s why we’ve taken proactive action through these rulings and why we have a zero-tolerance approach where we see ads like these.” It comes after an investigation by The Independent last month revealed AI “nudification” apps allowing users to upload their own photos to generate depictions of rape and sexual assault are freely available to download on Apple’s App Store. Janaya Walker, interim director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said the “violent and harmful” content seen on such apps can encourage individuals to “role play violent and dehumanising acts against women”, and encourages a “desensitising effect”. “We know that a range of actors – from multibillion-dollar companies to smaller-scale creators of these degrading apps – continue to monetise the abuse of women and girls,” she said. “The abuse imagery created on these apps allows and even encourages individuals to role-play violent and dehumanising acts against women. This has a desensitising effect and normalises violence against women and girls. The images created are also directly used to intimidate, threaten and harass women.” Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments [Image text:] 00Meta Meta