Meta Sues Crush AI Over ‘Nudify’ App Ads on Its Platforms
▼ Summary
– Meta sued Crush AI’s maker, Joy Timeline HK, for allegedly circumventing ad review processes to promote AI nudify services on its platforms.
– Crush AI reportedly ran over 8,000 ads for its “AI undresser” services on Meta in early 2025, with 90% of its traffic coming from Facebook or Instagram.
– Crush AI evaded Meta’s policies by creating multiple advertiser accounts and frequently changing domain names to avoid detection.
– Meta has introduced new technology to detect and remove ads for AI nudify services, even when ads lack explicit content, and has disrupted four such networks in 2025.
– Meta is collaborating with the Tech Coalition’s Lantern program and supporting legislation like the US Take It Down Act to combat AI-generated exploitation.
Meta has taken legal action against Crush AI, the developer behind a controversial “nudify” app, accusing the company of flooding its platforms with thousands of deceptive ads. The social media giant claims the app’s parent company, Joy Timeline HK, deliberately bypassed advertising policies to promote AI-generated explicit content without consent.
According to court documents filed in Hong Kong, Meta repeatedly removed Crush AI’s ads for policy violations, yet the company allegedly continued creating new accounts and domains to evade detection. Independent reports suggest the app ran over 8,000 ads on Facebook and Instagram in early 2025 alone, with nearly 90% of its website traffic originating from Meta’s platforms.
Crush AI’s tactics included using multiple advertiser accounts with slight variations in names, such as “Eraser Annyone’s Clothes” followed by numerical sequences. At one point, the service even operated a Facebook page to promote its AI-powered undressing tool, which generates non-consensual explicit imagery.
The issue isn’t isolated to Meta. Other platforms, including X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube, have faced similar challenges as AI-generated explicit content proliferates online. Researchers note a sharp rise in links to undressing apps across social media, prompting companies like TikTok and Meta to block related keyword searches. However, completely eradicating these services remains difficult due to constantly evolving evasion tactics.
In response, Meta has deployed new detection tools designed to flag ads for nudify services—even when they avoid explicit imagery. The company is also leveraging pattern-matching technology to identify and remove copycat ads faster while expanding its list of banned terms and emojis. Additionally, Meta has disrupted four networks promoting such services since January 2025.
Beyond platform-level enforcement, Meta is collaborating with industry partners through the Tech Coalition’s Lantern program, sharing data on malicious apps to combat online exploitation. The company has already contributed over 3,800 suspicious URLs to the initiative.
On the policy front, Meta advocates for stronger legislation, including the U.S. Take It Down Act, which would give parents more control over teens’ app downloads. The company emphasizes the need for broader industry and regulatory cooperation to address the risks posed by generative AI tools.
As tech firms grapple with balancing innovation and safety, the Crush AI lawsuit highlights the ongoing battle against harmful AI applications—and the challenges of keeping them off major platforms.
(Source: TechCrunch)
