UK watchdog bans AI app ads over sexualised images of women

The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority has banned five social media ads on Meta platforms for AI companion and video generation apps, saying they promoted sexually explicit content and the objectification of women. The regulator said the ads used harmful gender stereotypes, encouraged users to manipulate images of real women without consent, and were likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

One ad for Animcha Ltd’s AI companion generator portrayed someone under 18 in a sexual way, combining sexualised imagery with childlike clothing and objects. Other banned promotions included Nexaipic ads inviting users to upload a “crush” and create sexually explicit videos, KH31 DD22 showing a clothed woman transformed into a topless video, Rusto AI ads encouraging sexualised videos from photographs, and PictoPop imagery portraying a woman in a submissive position.

Meta had already removed the ads for breaching its rules, and the app creators did not respond to ASA enquiries. The regulator said it used its AI-powered Active Ad Monitoring System to identify the ads and warned that future illegal ads may be referred to platforms and law enforcement, following a UK law change outlawing apps used to create non-consensual deepfake nude imagery.