Meta platforms ran ads for AI app Kromix that promised to 'nudify' female politicians

Meta platforms recently ran advertisements for an artificial intelligence application named Kromix, which promised to generate non-consensual intimate imagery of female US politicians. The ads, which were exclusively targeted at male users, featured deepfake videos resembling prominent politicians and were removed following an inquiry from WIRED. Apple subsequently removed the Kromix app from the App Store.

The application, billed as an “AI image styler,” promoted features with “no restrictions” and claimed “all the characters are real people.” One advertisement featured a woman closely resembling a prominent female US politician in front of US flags, followed by a scene of a woman with the same face performing in a pornographic video. The app invited paid users to upload photos for scenarios including “bedroom rape” and “Disney love,” and featured AI-generated pornographic videos of women in Spider-Man costumes.

The ad account ran 32 ads between five and 46 hours, with most receiving 10 or fewer impressions. The page running the advertisements was created on August 3 and had no followers. Meta removed over 344,000 ads promoting nudify services between November last year and January.

WIRED previously reported on more than 50 ads on Meta’s platforms containing AI child sexual abuse material and images of minors, some involving face-swapping. An app called MaskAI, linked to some of the previously reported ads, was also removed from the App Store after WIRED contacted Apple.

Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, which discovered the ads, stated that the content broadly sexualised women and raised questions about Meta’s handling of such material. Cindy Southworth, head of women’s safety at Meta, described sexual exploitation as horrific and noted the company was strengthening its defences against bad actors.

Meta’s advertising standards state that its review system relies primarily on automated tools to check ads against policies prohibiting sexual imagery and non-consensual intimate imagery. The company acknowledged that while no system is perfect, it continues to investigate why these ads bypassed detection and how it can improve its processes.