The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued a ban on five social media advertisements promoting various AI-powered apps. The regulator determined that these promotions encouraged the creation of sexually explicit material and perpetuated the objectification of women through harmful gender stereotypes.
Among the banned content was an advertisement for an AI companion app by Animcha Ltd, which the ASA noted featured a sexualized depiction of a character appearing to be under the age of 18. Other flagged advertisements included tools such as Nexaipic, which invited users to upload images of individuals to generate explicit videos, and an app identified as KH31 DD22, which demonstrated the transformation of a clothed woman into a topless video. Additional bans were placed on ads for Rusto AI and PictoPop for similar violations regarding the digital manipulation of images.
Nicky Baker of the ASA stated that the watchdog is maintaining a "zero-tolerance" stance on such content, noting that these advertisements carry the potential for "real-world harm." The regulator utilized its AI-powered monitoring system to identify the ads, which had appeared on Meta platforms. While Meta had already removed the specific advertisements for violating its own policies, the company has faced ongoing scrutiny regarding the volume of similar content on its services.
The ASA emphasized that it may coordinate with law enforcement and digital platforms if future advertisements are found to violate both advertising standards and recent UK legislation regarding non-consensual deepfake imagery. None of the developers behind the banned apps responded to the regulator's inquiries during the investigation.
Source: BBC News
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