Over the last nine months, Meta has run dozens of paid ads containing explicit AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and images of minors with sexually suggestive statements, according to details shared with WIRED. The ads, some reaching several thousand accounts, targeted people in the United States, United Kingdom, and more than a dozen European countries. Researchers at the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) discovered more than 50 image and video ads in Meta’s ad library, with some linking to nudify or undressing apps. The ads ran across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and/or Threads. This is the second time in recent weeks that paid ads linked to CSAM have been found on Meta’s platforms. TTP director Katie Paul said the ads made no effort to mask their content and were reviewed, approved, and allowed to run by Meta. The ads, published between November last year and the start of August, have now been removed by Meta for violating its policies. One video ad used a thumbnail of a child with text about “Realizing Deep Fantasies with Generation AI,” and when clicked, played clips of adults in sexual acts and added the child’s face to a sex act. Another ad showed a young girl in a sexual position with text saying “I can show you more.” Most ads were not actively shown when found but remained undetected in the ad library for months. At least one ad reached 2,563 accounts in Europe, including in France