A Wired investigation has uncovered over 50 video and image ads that were published across Meta platforms in the last nine months.
Meta platforms hosted dozens of paid ads featuring explicit, AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM), as well as images of children appearing alongside sexually suggestive statements, an investigation by Wired has revealed.
The ads, which ran across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads, targeted UK, US, and European users and often reached thousands of accounts.
Over 50 video and image ads were discovered in Meta’s ad library by researchers at the independent watchdog, Tech Transparency Project (TTP) containing abusive content. Some listings were linked to ‘nudify’ apps or ones that undress people in images.
Recently, Instagram was found to be running ads promoting seemingly real CSAM in India, a BBC investigation found. The broadcaster also claimed sexually suggestive content was being pushed even to users who did not search for it.
Ads run on Meta platforms are approved by content moderation technology before being published. The social media giant said it has developed new tech to help identify this specific type of content in ads.
Katie Paul, director of TTP told Wired: “These ads made no effort to mask the images or hide what they were promoting. It’s important to point out that this isn’t content posted by third parties on Facebook or Instagram, these are ads that were reviewed, approved, and allowed to run by Meta, never encountering interference while the company collected the ad dollars.”
Not all performance metrics are included within Meta’s ad library, but at least one ad reached over 2,500 accounts in Europe, and many remained apparently undetected in the ad database for months.
A Meta spokesperson told Affiliate Leaders: “Sexual exploitation is horrific, and we work aggressively to keep it off our platform. The majority of these ads had minimal reach and many were disabled before Wired shared them. Many of these ads also predate new AI technology we launched recently to better detect and block violating ads at upload – and we’re constantly improving these systems.
“From removing over 36 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content last year to taking legal action against nudify app developers, we will continue to relentlessly fight this abuse.”
Wired reported many ads had appeared in Meta’s library after it had approached the firm about the abusive ad content discovered by researchers.
Brand protection
The continued hosting of CSAM poses serious safety concerns for brands, who risk their ads being shown alongside abusive content.
This was the primary reason a horde of advertisers boycotted Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) in 2024 f after he lifted content restrictions and declared himself a “free speech absolutionist.” This cost X billions of dollars.
Meta told Affiliate Leaders that it has strict rules against child nudity, abuse, and exploitation within its ad standards, and that its ads review process contains multiple layers of analysis and detection, both before and after the ad goes live. Users are also able to report an ad if they believe it violates the standard.
These ads containing abuse material are not released in a vacuum, meaning other legitimate advertisers appearing alongside them are likely to suffer harm by association.
Alongside this, the company has also come under fire for Meta glasses – dubbed by many as ‘pervert glasses’. The face that the glasses could be used to film people in public (and private) without their knowledge or consent has sparked a campaign against them.
Both the ads containing CSAM and the glasses has put Meta’s reputation under a spotlight. With more than 98% of Meta’s revenue coming from its digital advertising arm – around $59.4m in Q2 2026 – it could take a hit if advertisers decide to boycott the platform.
Currently, Meta is projected to surpass Google this year in ad revenue, capturing around 26% of the global digital advertising market, according to eMarketer.
