Meta, Apple Fail to Catch Nudify App Ads Until Reporters Flagged Them

An app called Kromix, marketed as generating nude deepfakes of real people, ran ads on Meta's platforms and was available on Apple's App Store despite both companies' policies against such content. One ad reportedly featured an AI-generated pornographic video resembling a prominent U.S. politician. Neither company caught the app until WIRED reporters began asking questions, with Apple pulling it within hours, according to TechBuzz.
Meta has previously said it removed 344,000 nudify-related ads by its own count, and a CBS News investigation had earlier found hundreds of similar ads on its platforms, including deepfakes of actors Scarlett Johansson and Anne Hathaway. Meta has also sued a Hong Kong company, Joy Timeline HK Limited, over more than 87,000 rule-violating ads tied to its CrushAI app. WIRED separately identified a second app, MaskAI, offering similar face-swapping features and also linked to Meta ads.
Apple said in a statement that it has "always strictly prohibited apps designed to generate, distribute, or consume pornography" and works to remove nudification apps and the developer accounts behind them. In July, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sent cease-and-desist letters to Apple and Google demanding removal of several nudify apps, accusing both companies of "aiding and abetting" the sale of explicit deepfake images.
The American Sunlight Project, a disinformation research group, has identified more than 35,000 instances of deepfake content depicting 26 members of Congress, 25 of them women, across pornographic sites. Neither Meta nor Apple has detailed how this specific failure occurred or what systemic changes, if any, are planned.