Apple and Meta Remove AI Deepfake Apps and Ads

Apple Inc. removed the AI image-editing apps Kromix and MaskAI from the App Store after a WIRED investigation revealed the tools allowed users to create nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes. The company stated that Kromix bypassed initial App Store reviews by adding prohibited nudification features after its initial approval.

Simultaneously, Meta Platforms Inc. took down a campaign of 32 advertisements for Kromix that targeted male users. The ads used benign landscape images to evade automated moderation, while one specific video featured a woman resembling a prominent female U.S. politician who winked before the footage cut to pornographic content. Paid users of Kromix could place uploaded photos into explicit scenarios, including bedroom rape.

Meta's head of women's safety, Cindy Southworth, described the promotion of such apps as horrific. While Meta reported removing over 340,000 similar ads between late last year and early this year, critics from the Tech Transparency Project argue that the company's reliance on AI moderation over human oversight remains a failure. These removals follow a separate demand from San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu for the removal of eight similar apps.