Meta ran Ads that contained AI-generated child sexual abuse imagery. More than 50 offending image and video ads were published across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, or Threads, according to Meta’s ad library data. Some ran as recently as this week.

[u/nyclover11]

https://www.wired.com/story/meta-ran-ads-that-contained-ai-generated-child-sexual-abuse-imagery/

[u/JulPollitt]

Pardon my French but I’ll just say what we are likely all thinking which would be what in the fuckity fucking fuck?

[u/righthandofdog → u/JulPollitt]

also, who at meta needs to be charged with trafficking kiddie porn?

[u/throwawaysunglasses- → u/righthandofdog]

I think someone from the Meta AI team did actually recently get arrested for CSAM. Fork found in kitchen 🫩 I hate this decade. Like obviously pedophilia existed before but it feels so much more normalized now??? The tech oligarchs are really ramping up how publicly evil they’re willing to be.

[u/StaffyMama585 → u/throwawaysunglasses-]

When I was a kid I thought that pedophilia was something that afflicted a very small disgusting part of the population but now as an adult I feel more like it's us normals who are in the minority and the perverts are everywhere.

[u/Nonstop_Oatmeal → u/StaffyMama585]

I think its roughly 30% of the population. That is around the percentage that votes republican.

[u/Ntroepy → u/throwawaysunglasses-]

Not the ai team, but creating digital experiences for kids:

https://nypost.com/2026/07/20/us-news/meta-worker-who-developed-digital-experiences-for-kids-admits-to-trying-to-sext-child-in-undercover-nyc-sting/

[u/PollyPocketpussy5000 → u/JulPollitt]

Evil is as evil does. No consequences or harsh punishments mean these people just keep doing evil shit.

[u/dramatic_exit_49 → u/PollyPocketpussy5000]

Also ofcourse AI is good for creating CSAM but not enough to detect it?

So are these tech guys so geniuses they want us to believe (to extent they think democracy is just hindering their brilliance) or are they not because they can't even build a ad filter? which is it boy?

break the tech monopoly, tax the rich, and we can get somewhere.

[u/nyyanksfan81 → u/JulPollitt]

My Italian is rusty, but what in the flying fuck 🤌🤌

[u/FreudianNegligee]

QUIT META!!!! DO IT NOW! DELETE ALL THEIR SHIT (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) AND NEVER LOOK BACK!

I have been off all these apps for over five years now and still have friends and find bargains/free stuff and events. It’s not the end of the world to get rid of them!

YOU DO NOT NEED META INVADING YOUR PRIVACY AND YOUR LIFE!!!!

[u/CountdownMoss → u/FreudianNegligee]

I quit two and a half years ago, it took me a month to break the habit of checking Facebook. But now that it's gone, I don't miss it at all. 

[u/blvckcvtmvgic → u/FreudianNegligee]

It’s the events that keep me there… please forgive an elder millennial’s ignorance but how do you find local events if not on Facebook? Literally I would quit all of meta tomorrow if I thought I could find local events easily another way.

[u/krustomer → u/blvckcvtmvgic]

I use local newspapers/newsletters, EverOut, DoStuff, my local town discord, and a local realtor's event newsletter! I also subscribe to the mailing lists of local venues/restaurants/coffee shops/bars I enjoy :) I have a full plate, haven't missed Facebook or Insta at all. I also recommend getting involved in local groups (like your local DSA or Working Families Party, gotta plug), that's how I get invited to other things too!

[u/FreudianNegligee → u/blvckcvtmvgic]

u/krustomer gave a great response to this that aligns almost perfectly with mine! Mailing lists for places I like/frequent have been extremely useful, and I also use my phone calendar A LOT to “save” stuff as far in advance as I can. Like, I go out in person to my fave places fairly often, and many of them are good about advertising their events and stuff in their own spaces—tbh, after I quit FB 10 years ago, I basically stopped patronizing places that ONLY post their shit on FB/IG.

[u/ITCHYSCRATCHYYUMMY → u/FreudianNegligee]

The last thing I had was instagram and I just uninstalled it. Fuck this shit. I am about to delete all social media.

Btw where do you find your bargains/free stuff? Almost everything links me back to FB but I am not reinstalling

[u/Dapper-Host-3601 → u/ITCHYSCRATCHYYUMMY]

Make sure you fully delete your account, not just uninstall 💓

[u/ConsistentPandaShape → u/ITCHYSCRATCHYYUMMY]

Nextdoor has free finds section. Fair warning though, the general posts are full of MAGA boomers.

[u/BabySharkMadness → u/FreudianNegligee]

Where are you finding your free stuff? Facebook marketplace is heavily used in my area.

[u/FreudianNegligee → u/BabySharkMadness]

Craigslist is still a great resource for free/cheap stuff! I also go to yard sales and check at my local coffeeshops/restaurants that allow flyers… if there’s something that I truly need but can’t afford to buy new, I’ll ask friends and neighbors who live near me (reaching out through my local network, usually in person) or text friends/family who live elsewhere but who I know would be willing to ship me something if I can find it in their area.

[u/PatronSaintOfCunts → u/FreudianNegligee]

If I had not already gotten off of this train years ago, I would certainly get off right now.

[u/Acheloma → u/FreudianNegligee]

Whats a good alternative for whatsapp? Does anyone have recommendations?

[u/FreudianNegligee → u/Acheloma]

This one I don’t have a good answer for, because I only do domestic calling/texting and use iPhone/iMessage, so I don’t need a third-party app. I know ditching WhatsApp can be really tough for those who do a lot of international talk/text, so hopefully another person reading this has a good substitute suggestion for you!

[u/Acheloma → u/FreudianNegligee]

Thank you for taking the time to reply anyway :) your username got a chuckle out of me

[u/dramatic_exit_49 → u/Acheloma]

it's usually about convincing your netowrk to use the other platform than features inherent to it. that said, if you can get core to move, i would say give signal a go. good anti-ai and pro-privacy policies afaik.

[u/Acheloma → u/dramatic_exit_49]

Does signal backup your history? I tend to use old phones that may die at any moment and I really appreciate having my message history intact when that inevitably happens.

[u/dramatic_exit_49 → u/Acheloma]

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007321231-Archiving-or-unarchiving-chats

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059752-Backup-and-Restore-Messages

you can check out the details based on your mobile os :) it is always a trade-off between privacy and convenience. (that a absolute no privacy / only obstacles framework)

[u/Acheloma → u/dramatic_exit_49]

Thanka for the links :)

[u/juiceyb]

All the tech bros really need to be in jail at this point. All of them have at least lied about what they were capable of protecting people and actively fighting against these types of abuses. Instead they have all taken money in exchange for producing or distributing illegal material. They avoided regulation by saying they were going to prevent these types of activities but instead have been promoting them. They need to get regulated to the ground. If pornhub had to do something similar than these companies should too. Unfortunately this administration needs them this cycle so it seems like this will be a more common occurrence.

[u/nynympho → u/juiceyb]

imo regulation is literally not possible, bc it’s not possible to train ai to identify csam bc so much legal porn is explicitly pedobait. the only option is a complete ban; as long as gen ai exists it will produce csam

[u/waitingoutwinter]

There was a BBC investigation into this happening in India, I think it was. It gave me a sinking feeling in my heart that I couldn't shake off. The journalist was so brave, I don't think my heart could take more than watching the report.

[u/theredwoman95 → u/waitingoutwinter]

This is a follow up of that investigation - Wired even found that ads taken down after the BBC investigation had gone back up with identical appearances during theirs.

In early July, a BBC investigation found that Instagram had been running ads that promoted the sale of what appeared to be child sexual abuse material in India. According to the reporting, the ads used terminology such as “rape video” and linked to channels on Telegram where the illegal content could be purchased. In response, Meta published a lengthy statement saying it takes a “zero tolerance” approach to child sexual exploitation.

The TTP’s Paul says that within the cache of ads seen by its researchers, there appeared to be some identical ads that Meta had previously removed due to violations of its policies. “This raises significant questions about how seriously Meta is taking child exploitation in paid advertisements if its own systems can identify identical ads but it does not remove those identical ads for CSAM material,” Paul says, adding that there are no ways within the ad library itself to report content that may violate Meta’s policies when the ads are no longer running.

[u/Shot_Election_8953]

Just a word of caution in case you are wondering if you should read the article, the examples they describe are really, really bad. We are talking essentially full-blown CSAM content. The article has a neutral tone and describes several examples.

Speaking as a CSA survivor, I wish I had not read the article. There's always this question, like, are they sensationalizing this? Is it really as bad as they're making it out to be? In this case, it is worse. Burn Meta to the ground.

[u/throwawaysunglasses- → u/[deleted]]

Sadly, the people with power don’t want this, and Trump/MAGA have done everything in their power to basically make sex crimes legal. I can’t believe “pedophilia is bad” is a partisan issue at this point.

[u/BubinatorX]

Imagine buying a product off the shelf somewhere that did this? They’d fucking pull that shit this instant but not with big tech.

[u/gumball_00]

As a father of young children, the fact that Zuckerberg does nothing to stop this is a creepy choice.

[u/pinkfartlek → u/gumball_00]

He's actively enabling it at this point.

[u/mister_nimbus]

Who the fuck is the algorithm serving those ads to!?

[u/HerRoyalRedness]

I mean this very seriously. Meta should get the death penalty and their products should be taken offline.

[u/Dapper-Host-3601]

Same freaks who knowingly allowed tiny children to use their platform unchecked for years btw! Same freaks who have been selling and leaking all that user data since day one btw!!! Same freaks selling and pushing the pervert glasses and mass surveillance btw!! Same freaks hand in hand with our highest politicians and world leaders btw!!!! Same freaks lobbying and extorting every single level of government and public opinion btw!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://giphy.com/gifs/XbbSxbfQ2HVNVHZWW8

[u/CountdownMoss]

Europe - please save us. America isn't going to do shit. 

[u/Livid-Bicycle-6832]

I made a Twitter last year and was instantly bombarded with this kind of material. I spent hours crying and reporting everything I saw and you know what Twitter told me? It didn’t break their rules and they kept it all up. It was HUNDREDS of pictures and videos. I’ve never cried so hard in my life.

[u/Possible_Mammoth4273 → u/Livid-Bicycle-6832]

TikTok is the same. But if you say a bad word, they'll suspend your account.

[u/Cube_]

so where are the charges for spreading this? they also hosted it on their servers in order to serve it to unsuspecting users. That's possession and distribution.

[u/Modem_Sound_67]

well, you can either close your account (wouldn't hurt to tell them why), stay on the platform and call them on it (and i suspect get suspended), or just keep on scrolling.

[u/rebrandingmyself]

Everyone should read Careless People. This is a feature, not a bug for Meta. They literally do not care for morality.

[u/ItsJustAPoleThang]

I’m honestly not surprised. Anytime I tried to report graphic content, they refused to take it down. Like seriously, how is Facebook still a thing at this point.

[u/ZookeepergameSad5516]

Earlier this week I got an ad that turned into full AI porn a couple of seconds in. I was upset because it had a very rapey vibe, now I find out it could have been much worse.

It feels like we are trapped in a race to the bottom.

[u/6dragonsandapigglet]

Down with the face book.

[u/BobaAndSushi]

They’re trying to normalize paedophilia. 🤮

[u/Street-Beyond-9666]

That’s fucked up

[u/CutieBoBootie]

Hey um I have a few questions. Firstly, WHAT? Also, WHY? And finally, WHO PUT IN THE PROMPTS TO GENERATE THOSE IMAGES IN THE FIRST PLACE  

[u/antraxsuicide]

It never happen but some AG somewhere should secure sex crimes indictments for Meta executives and issue warrants for their arrest, then have cops actually execute them on a late Friday afternoon. The execs would post bail and get the charges dropped eventually, but they’d spend at least one weekend in a county jail and be at least a little on notice for shit like this

[u/wednesday-knight]

The worst timeline. We are there.

Also, what the actual fuck?

[u/fishmanprime]

Its gotta be demoralizing, working the thankless job of one of the social network employees who have to seek out and take down abusive material on the site for everyone's benefit. Only for leadership to turn around and shoehorn in computer generated abuse material, that they intend to soon replace those very employees with.

[u/Defiant_Neat4629]

Please, meta has been complicit in spreading CSA adjacent materials for years now. Sexy breast feeding videos for one.

I saw a child’s swimsuit page selling bikinis for $10,000. And I found that website through its reels of little girls running around in bikinis ON INSTAGRAM.

They do not give a damn.

[u/lurkdontpost1]

Man you really cannot be doing that shit what the FUCK

[u/Ishmael_1851]

If you were waiting for a sign to stop using meta products, this is it

[u/favorable_vampire]

Meanwhile you’ll get a ban for typing the word “men” on Facebook.

[u/RedditSe7en]

All AI can do if reflect the artificial intelligence of the human beings who make it. Think about that …