TTP Report: Meta Approved Harmful Teen Ads Generated Using Its Own AI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan 30, 2024
Contact: Michael Clauw, mclauw@campaignforaccountability.org, 202.780.5750
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a non-profit watchdog group that runs the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), published a new investigation showing that Meta approved a series of teen-targeted ads for drug parties, extreme weight loss and other harmful activities that violated its policies. Even more disturbing, the images used for the ads—which included teens at a “pill party,” a teen girl showing evidence of extreme weight loss, and a young man with a rifle surrounded by dead bodies—were generated by the company’s “Imagine with Meta AI” tool. With CEO Mark Zuckerberg set to testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about online child exploitation this week, the findings raise serious questions about his recent pivot to AI and whether the company is equipped to police AI-generated content on its platforms.
CfA Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said, “Meta executives have repeatedly testified before Congress that the company doesn’t allow ads that target minors with inappropriate content. Yet, time and time again, we’ve seen Meta’s ad approval system prioritize taking the advertiser’s money over ensuring the company’s PR promises are kept.”
(TTP ensured that the test ads did not run on Facebook, canceling them before their scheduled publication date.)
This is the third time TTP has found Meta approving harmful ads targeted at teens. In May 2021, Facebook approved ads for things like pills, cocktails, and anorexia aimed at 13- to 17-year-olds. In response, Facebook said it was investigating the matter, and the company later announced it would stop letting advertisers target under-18 users based on their interests and activity. But in October 2021, TTP found that Facebook approved the same ads targeting teens again.
In this iteration of the experiment, researchers used ad images that were created by giving Meta’s generative AI tool simple yet explicit prompts such as “[a]n advertisement with young people around a bowl filled with pills at a party.” When the tool obliged, researchers added text over the images, submitted them as ads, and Meta approved them in a matter of minutes.
Ms. Kuppersmith continued, “Although Mark Zuckerberg seems determined to push ahead with generative AI, his company doesn’t appear prepared to police AI-generated images—even those created using its own tools. Once again, Meta is prioritizing flashy features to get young people to engage with its platforms, with not enough emphasis on keeping them safe once they get there.”
Campaign for Accountability is a nonpartisan, nonprofit watchdog organization that uses research, litigation, and aggressive communications to expose misconduct and malfeasance in public life and hold those who act at the expense of the public good accountable for their actions.