San Francisco tells Meta: stop AI child abuse ads

The letter follows WIRED reporting that Meta ran more than 350 ads in recent months transforming still images of minors—some confirmed as real individuals, including a member of a European royal family—into short videoclips depicting sexual acts. The ads, discovered by researchers at the Tech Transparency Project, directed people to download AI image- and video-generation apps, some of which could digitally undress people or create nonconsensual intimate imagery. Meta says it has removed all of them.

At the center of the dispute is a jurisdictional fight. Meta says there is no indication the ads appeared in San Francisco; the City Attorney's Office counters that San Francisco consumers could access the ads through Meta's online spaces, making it the city's business. Chiu's letter also questions how the ads evaded moderation and how Meta escalates reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The letter asks for a response within 28 days, and researchers say new ads featuring some of the same children have continued to appear. The outcome may hinge on whether Meta shows it has fixed the underlying detection gaps, or whether the dispute stays focused on where the ads ran.