- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- technology@beehaw.org
Instagram is profiting from several ads that invite people to create nonconsensual nude images with AI image generation apps, once again showing that some of the most harmful applications of AI tools are not hidden on the dark corners of the internet, but are actively promoted to users by social media companies unable or unwilling to enforce their policies about who can buy ads on their platforms.
While parent company Meta’s Ad Library, which archives ads on its platforms, who paid for them, and where and when they were posted, shows that the company has taken down several of these ads previously, many ads that explicitly invited users to create nudes and some ad buyers were up until I reached out to Meta for comment. Some of these ads were for the best known nonconsensual “undress” or “nudify” services on the internet.
Sharing this screenshot again, to drive the point home.
What in the fuck are all these photos of kids? They’re not part of the ad?
This was from a test I did with a throwaway account on IG where I followed a handful of weirdo parents who run “model” accounts for their kids to see if Instagram would start pushing problematic content as a result (spoiler: yes they will).
It took about 5 minutes from creating the account to end up with nothing but dressed down kids on my recommendations page paired with inappropriate ads. I guess the people who follow kids on IG also like these recommended photos, and the algorithm also figures they must be perverts, but doesn’t care about the sickening juxtaposition of children in swimsuits next to AI nudifying apps.
Don’t use Meta products. They don’t care about ethics, just profits.
The other day, I had an ad on facebook that was basically lolicon. It depicted a clearly underage anime girl in a sexually suggestive position on a motorcycle with their panties almost off. I am in Germany, Facebook knows I am in Germany and if I took a screenshot of that ad and saved it, it would probably be classed as CSAM in my jurisdiction. I reported the ad and got informed that FB found “nothing wrong” with it a few days later. Fuck off, you child predators.
I logged into my throwaway account today just to check in on it since people are talking about this shit more. I was immediately greeted with an ad featuring hardcore pornography, among the pics of kids that still populate my feed.
I’ll spare you the screenshot, but IG is fucked.
Coupled with the article about pedos blackmailing kids with their fake nudes to get real ones, this makes my stomach turn and eyes water. So much evil in this world. I am happy to say I deleted my FB and IG accounts a few days ago. WhatsApp is tough to leave due to family though… Slowly getting people to switch over to safer and more ethical alternatives.
This 100%. I can’t even bring myself to buy new content for my Quest now that I’m aware of the issues (no matter how much I want the latest Beat Saber and Synth Riders DLC), especially since Meta’s Horizon, in my experience, puts adults into direct contact with children. At first I just dismissed metaverse games like VRChat or Horizon as being too popular with kids for me to enjoy it, but now I realize that it put me, an adult, straight into voice chats with tweens, which people should fucking know better than to do. My first thought was to log off because I wasn’t having fun in a kid-dominated space, but I have no doubt that these apps are crawling with creeps who see that as a feature rather than a problem.
We need education for parents that sharing pictures of their kids online comes with real risks, as does giving kids free reign to use the Internet. The laissez faire attitude many people have towards social media needs to be corrected, because real harm is already being done.
Most of the parents that post untoward pics of their kids online are chasing down opportunities for their kids to model, and they’re ignoring the fact that a significant volume of engagement these photos receive comes from people objectifying children. There seems to be a pattern that the most revealing outfits get the most engagement, and so future pictures are equally if not more revealing to chase more engagement…
Parents might not understand how disturbing these patterns are until they’ve already dumped thousands of pictures online, and at that point they’re likely to be in denial about what they’re exposing their kids to, and/or too invested to want to reverse course.
We also need to have a larger conversation, as a society, about using kids as models at all. Pretty much every major manufacturer of children’s clothing is hiring real kids to model the clothes. I don’t think it’s necessary to be publishing that many pictures of kids online, nor is it acceptable to be doing so for profit. There’s no reason not to limit modeling to adults who can consent to putting their bodies on public display, and using mannequins for kids’ clothing. The sheer volume of kids’ swimsuit and underwear pictures hosted on e-commerce sites is likely a contributor to the capability Generative AI models have to create inappropriate images of children, not to mention the actual CSAM found in the LAION dataset most of these models are trained on.
Sorry for the long rant, this shit pisses me off. I need to consider sending 404 Media everything I know since they’re doing investigations into this kind of thing. My small scale investigation has revealed a lot to me, but more people need to be getting as upset as I am about it if we want to make the Internet less of a hellscape.
okay enough internet for me today
Wow, that is really disturbing. WTF, IG?
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My only hope is it also reduces CSAM of real people. Please at least do that much!
That’s what I was hoping too, and I’m sure for some it does, but I also saw an article the other day about people using these to blackmail children into giving real nudes, so fuck me I guess.
I still hope that for the majority of pedos this is solely something used to deter their urges. I’d like at least that much I mean ffs.
Well fuck. The shittiest timeline
No fucking kidding lmao
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What the fuck do you mean no?! This is happening right the fuck now. Its already happening. You DONT want it to decrease the total number actual real children who are used and abused to feed this shit?
I think you think im supporting this in some way. I AM NOT. Im saying i hope that any of the pedos out there are using this instead of taking action against actual children will not have already harmed children or at the very least reduce the total harm done.
Christ what the hell are we coming to if we cant even try to find some fucking sanity in this situation.
And for all that is good and right in the world i also very much hope it doesnt lead to MORE abuse.
Can we at least hope for the best while trying to fix the worst?
The pedos out there are using AI to nudity pictures of real kids. That’s just going to drive up the demand for creep shots and child model photosets to exploit.
There may be a small percentage of offending pedophiles that switch to pure GenAI over pictures of real kids, but I don’t see GenAI ever playing a role in harm reduction given the harm it ultimately enables.
One of the current sickening trends is for a predator to convince a kid to send underwear or swimsuit pics, and then blackmail them into more hardcore photos with nudified versions of the original pics. They’re already seeing an influx of that kind of CSAM online, that involves abusing real kids on social media.
I just wish America was less puritanical and taught kids about sex and boundaries to protect them, and that we had a functioning mental healthcare system that directly helps people who experience inappropriate sexuality attractions like pedophilia before they go down these dark paths.
Look we dont know for sure. Im grasping at silver linings made of straws. I dont care how unlikely it is to be true, but there is a chance.
A chance that some day, months years or decades, we will find out whether or not it didnt work out in best way it could have given whats already happening. But we will get an answer that will be pretty hard to disagree with
And i wont be surpised when it isnt what im hoping it might be. I wont be devastated or have my world view shattered.
Im not naive, im just hoping that we are wrong. Even if is a bit rediculous and theres only evidence to the contrary along the way.
What we know today may not be what we understand next year
Truth is stranger than fiction. We have soo many problems now its fine if we WANT an easy win we wont be able to KNOW the answer to for AN amount of time yet. But only if we are honest with ourselves that just because we want something, doesnt mean its has to happen. I also know that today
But holy hell my guy im fucking grasping that straw. This shit is too bleak and we need something to keep us from taking vigilant action. What we dont need is to stir the pot of fear worry and horror before its time to take action.
If we cant see paths to better places we will have one hell of a hard time recognizing things that will help us get to that path. And if you dont agree we need a new path, it might be too late for you
I feel like you’ve just set me up for an FBI visit.
Send 'em to Zuck.
That makes me sick!! 😠
Google Play and co are allowing similar apps
The idea that the children in this photo are ment to be seen in the same context of a porn site (or at least somthing using the pornhub logo likeness) is discusting.
DISCLAIMER: Ive havent gone throught this myself but know what porn adiction feels like. its not fun and will warp who you are on the inside.
Anyone lured for any reason to this site, DO NOT ENGUAGE it WILL HURT YOU! If for whatever reason theve put their hooks in you and are reeling you in, Use stratigies that Alcoholics Anonimous use. LITERALLY ANYTHING is better than using pictures of REAL CHILDREN for sexual grtification.
Shit ain’t right.