Meta Ran Ads for App That Deepfaked Female Politicians
Original: Meta Ran Ads for an App That Promised to Nudify Female Politicians
Why This Matters
Nonconsensual AI deepfake ads slipping through major platform safeguards signals a systemic moderation failure.
Meta ran ads for AI app Kromix, which generated deepfake pornographic videos resembling female US politicians. The 32 ads ran 5–46 hours before removal. Apple pulled the app from the App Store after WIRED's inquiry. Meta's own policies prohibit ads containing sexual material.
Meta platforms ran ads for an AI-generated porn tool called Kromix, which billed itself as an 'AI image styler' with 'no restrictions' and encouraged creation of deepfaked videos of real people, including female US politicians. One ad featured a woman closely resembling a prominent US politician, shown in front of US flags, before cutting to a pornographic scene with the same face. The Kromix app, previously listed on Apple's App Store, offered paid users scenarios including 'bedroom rape' and 'Disney love,' and also featured AI-generated porn of women in Spider-Man costumes. Meta's ad library showed 32 ads tied to the campaign, targeted exclusively at male users, running between 5 and 46 hours before removal—most receiving 10 or fewer impressions. Apple removed the app after WIRED's inquiry; the company has faced prior pressure, including a cease-and-desist from San Francisco's city attorney demanding removal of 13 similar apps. The Tech Transparency Project, which discovered the ads, noted all such ads exclusively targeted and sexualized women. Nonconsensual deepfake imagery targeting female politicians has been a growing trend, with millions of sexualized AI images generated globally in recent months.